


Case #1: Cross to Bear

by blue_noize



Series: Midorijima Police Department Precinct 21 [2]
Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: Akushima is Chief of Police, Aoba does not like Noiz, But not as much of one, Case #1, Clear is adorable, Drug Use, Gay Bar, He still yells alot, He's still a dick, M/M, Mink is a Pimp, Noiz has the definite hots for Detective Aoba, Rookie Cop Noiz, Sei is a dancer, Senior Detective Aoba, Undercover Bartenders, mentions of drug use
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2016-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 05:04:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4593870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blue_noize/pseuds/blue_noize
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part 1 of 5 in the Midorijima Police Department Precinct 21: Platinum Jail Case Study<br/>Chapter One Summary<br/>Noiz's first day/week at Precinct 21, he finds a certain senior detective at the department very attractive, but keeps his distance.  He finds out that this detective is on an undercover assignment at a local gay bar, Platinum Jail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Precinct 21

**Author's Note:**

> I am not sure if this case is going to have ten or fifteen chapters, but I will decide along the way. Noiz and Aoba do not get along very well at first....and for quite a while.  
> Also, Clear is 17 in this, soooo yeah. Sue me. I'm taking liberties. Hush.  
> Noiz is still 19. It'll all be explained.  
> Also, Noiz needed a last name, so I gave him one. Stechen is the german word for pierce, so I thought it would work. If you guys can come up with anything better, let me know and I'll change it xD
> 
> P.S. There are probably a few mistakes since I wrote Chapter One at 3 in the morning after a couple of days of barely any sleep, so I was too tired to go over and check every little thing.

The Midorijima Police Department Precinct 21 was smack in the middle of the island.  It was surrounded by anything and everything.

And Noiz couldn't find it.

He had been wandering the city trying to find the place for at least an hour.  True, he didn't have to be there for at least two more, but he had decided to get an early start.  With his lousy sense of direction, he knew it would take forever.

Noiz continued to walk around for a while longer, when the phone in his from pocket started to ring loudly (and obnoxiously).  He received a series of dirty looks from other passerby.  Not that he actually  _cared._ Wasn't his fault that he couldn't feel the vibration setting.

"Yo," Noiz said into the phone.  "Fuck," he muttered, realizing his mistake.  He was a cop now.  He couldn't go by his nickname.  "I mean, this is Wilh- fuck, no, uh this is Stechen," he finally managed to blurt out.  It was going to be a trial to get this down.

"GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!!"

Noiz held the phone a foot from his ear.  It was his new boss, Police Chief Akushima.

_More like Officer Loud-ass._

"Trying," Noiz bit out.  He was already in a bad mood from the dirty looks he got, and this was not helping.

"FUCKING HELL!!"  He just never stopped yelling.  "YOU'RE FUCKING LATE!!"

Letting out a pissed off sigh, Noiz retorted, "No, I'm not.  I don't have to be there for another hour."

"LIKE HELL YOU DO!!  LOOK AT THE FUCKING TIME!!  YOU'RE TEN MINUTES LATE!!  GET YOU ASS OVER HERE, NOW!!"

"I would if I could find the damn place!" Noiz finally yelled.  The loudmouth was destroying what little patience he had.

There was a pause and then a loud sigh.  "Look to your left."

Noiz blinked at the sudden drop in volume.  It surprised him enough that he actually did what he was told.

And there, not two hundred feet away stood Precinct 21.  Looking farther up, Noiz saw Akushima giving him a death glare from the second floor.  He had already hung up.

"Shit..."

 

* * *

 

 

Noiz's father and Akushima were old friends.  Noiz had grown up being to either be a cop and follow in his "uncle's" footsteps, or take over the family business.  It wasn't like it was much of a choice.  No matter which one he would have picked, he was forced into that police academy/high school.  Not that he cared.  It meant getting away from the strangers that were his parents.  Boarding school seemed the best option.

However, he didn't expect that as soon as he graduated the academy, he would be forced into working underneath a parental figure that he hated almost as much as his parents.  So here Noiz was, keeping a chair and a desk in between him and a screaming Akushima.

"How fucking stupid can you be!?  This place is literally a block away from your apartment!!  It's not that hard to find this place!!  Just ask anyone on the fucking street!!"

Akushima had been screaming things along those lines for at least ten minutes now.  After Noiz had walked into the precinct fifteen minutes before, he was dragged into Akushima's second floor office.  

_If he doesn't shut up, I'm gonna punch him._

_Better not.  I don't need to get fired on my first day._

Noiz was battling with himself.  He needed this job to stay away from his parents, but he also didn't want to have to deal with this everyday for the next three years.  It was fucking annoying.

"ARE YOU EVEN FUCKING LISTENING TO ME!?"

Noiz flinched when he was asked a direct question.  

Before he could answer, however, the door to Akushima's office flew open.

"Hey, Akushima I'm checking in...Shit, sorry.  Didn't realize you had a rookie."

Noiz blinked at the voice.  It was male, but had a weird soothing quality to it.  Turning around slightly, he looked at the owner of the voice.  As soon as he did, he had to keep his jaw from dropping to the floor.

_Jesus, fuck...he's hot!_

At his thoughts, Noiz shook his head.  The fuck was wrong with him?  But it was true.  The man standing in the doorway, hand still on the door handle, was the exact definition of bang-able.

Long, azure hair that was pulled into a ponytail framed a slightly rounded face.  Eyes the color of amber were staring at him, summing him up.  The man looked to be only a little older than Noiz.  He wasn't super tall, about average.  He had a lean build, but had a slight feminine look to him.  A dark gray vest and red tie covered a button-down with the sleeves rolled up to just under his elbows.  Pants the same color as the vest fit perfectly on those long legs that went on and on.  Black dress shoes finished the look.  In the hand that wasn't on the door handle was a holstered, standard issue SIG Sauer P220* and it looked like he had just pulled it off his belt. **  
**

_Shit, am I supposed to say something?_

Thankfully, Akushima stepped in and said, "Seragaki, this is Wilhelm Stechen.  He prefers to go by Noiz, but he's joining the force today.  He finished his training a few months ago."

"Ah, I see," the blue-hared man said, walking into the room. He held out his hand, smiled, and added, "Aoba Seragaki.  Nice to meet you."

Noiz shook his hand, but only nodded.  He was afraid that his voice wouldn't sound right after seeing that smile, so he kept his mouth shut.

"Noiz, Seragaki is a Senior Detective here.  He's supposed to be out on assignment right now.  Undercover work, so you won't see him very often," Akushima explained.  Ever since Seragaki had walked in, his demeanor had changed drastically.  He even had a smirk on his face.  Akushima turned back to the blue-haired man and asked, "By the way, how's that going?  Any leads?"

Seragaki shook his head.  Crossing his arms, he explained, "Nothing so far.  All of it seems pretty normal.  Normal drug use, normal crime for a bar.  Fights every now and then, but nothing that needs too much attention.  Mizuki thinks that the kingpin knows we're undercover, so he's laying low.  Trying to get us off his trail."

"Shit.  I thought we would'a had him already.  Looks like a two week undercover isn't gonna cut it."  Akushima scratched his head and closed his eyes, thinking.  "Alright, well, you should probably get back there.  Don't wanna miss your shift."

Seragaki chuckled.  "No need for that.  Shift ended an hour ago.  Mizuki's taking over for me so I can go home and get some sleep.  Plus, Ren needs to be let out."

"Thought Mizuki's guy was taking care of him?"

"He's got school, so he can't always be there."

Noiz was still standing there, watching their conversation.  It looked like they had forgotten all about it.  But honestly, he didn't really care.  At least Loud-ass wasn't yelling at him.

"When's the kid's birthday?" Akushima suddenly asked. 

Seragaki looked up at the ceiling and then answered, "Not for another couple of months.  Don't worry, Mizuki hasn't touched him.  He won't until he's of age."

"Good."  Akushima looked over at Noiz, finally.  "Right, Noiz.  Forgot you were there, sorry."

Noiz shrugged.  He really didn't care either way.

"Oh, yeah, you guys were in the middle of something.  I just wanted to check in," Seragaki said, smiling and giving the two of them a little wave.  "I'll be heading out now."

"Ah, Seragaki, wait a minute, will ya?"

"Sure...?"

Akushima opened a drawer on his side of the desk and rummaged around for a second.  "Noiz, here's your gun and your badge.  They stay on you at all times in the field.  Keep your gun up on maintenance, never discharge a weapon near civilians unless absolutely necessary.  You know what rights you have to read them, blah blah blah."  Akushima set both on the table and then waved his hand in the air.  "I'm not gonna explain everything, since you should know it all."

Noiz nodded and grabbed both, hooking the holster to his belt and sticking the badge in his back pocket.  He's figure out what to do with it later.

"Now, Seragaki, since you're only responsibility is undercover nonsense, would you mind showing Noiz around?  Just for like an hour or so?"  Akushima was putting on a jacket, signaling that he was going somewhere.  "I have a meeting to get to, so if you want, I can stop at your place and let the mutt out, okay?"

Seragaki shrugged and smiled lightly. "Sure.  Extra key's in the broken part of the door frame, and Ren's a little nasty around newish people, so be careful."

"He weighs less than ten pounds," Akushima said, snorting.  "I think I can take him."

The blue-haired man chuckled. "Good point," he said, waving once to the older man.  "See you later, boss."

Without another word, Akushima walked out of the office and threw a hand up as a goodbye.  As soon as he was gone, Noiz let out a loud sigh.

"Thank fucking god..." he muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose, being careful of the piercing that lay there.  If he could feel pain, Noiz knew he would have a headache right about now.  His eyes were tired, so he knew they would hurt, if he was normal.

His mind went dark for a minute, threatening to swallow him up.

_Don't.  You got over this.  Stop it._

"Hey, kid, you okay?"

Noiz was snapped back to reality when he heard the blue-haired man's voice. 

What the hell was that?  Nothing was ever able to pull him from that dark place in his mind that easily.  He normally had to struggle.  But that voice.

Noiz looked at Seragaki.  "Uh, yeah.  I'm fine."

The older man put a hand on his chest, seemingly relieved.  "Good.  I thought you were gonna pass out on me for a second there."  Seragaki put a hand on Noiz's shoulder, but he quickly shrugged it off.  Didn't matter how hot this guy was.  He didn't like to be touched.  At all.

Seragaki made a face, but didn't comment on the matter.  "Alright, so I guess I have to show you around, right?"

Noiz shrugged.  He still didn't wanna speak in front of the guy.  He felt like his voice was going to crack, which didn't happen.  Noiz always made sure his voice and expression were as devoid of emotion as possible.  That way, people wouldn't bother him.

"Hmmm," Seragaki hummed.  He tapped his chin with his pointer finger.  This action made him seem like a teenager.  "Is there anything you wanna know, specifically?"

Noiz actually thought for a moment.  Nothing really came to mind.  It wasn't like he hadn't been here before.  He had been to this very office a few times growing up, when his parents decided to drag him to Japan for "vacation" and his father took him to see Akushima.  Only one thing came to mind.

"What's this undercover assignment Loudmouth's got you working on?"

Seragaki blinked.  "Loudmouth?"  Then he chuckled.  "Yeah, I guess you could say Akushima is pretty loud, but only when you piss him off.  And by the way he was yelling at you, you really pissed him off?  What did you do?"  The blue-haired man dodged the question completely, and began walking out of the office.  His ponytail swung a little, and Noiz felt inclined to follow.

_Inclined?  Seriously, the fuck...?_

"I was late," Noiz vaguely explained.  "He didn't like it."

The older man nodded.  It looked like he was leading Noiz to the main floor.  "Makes sense.  Hey, why did he give you a detective's badge?  Aren't you a rookie?"

"Graduated early from the academy, so did some extra training and they said I would be detective material."

"Graduated early?" Seragaki questioned.  "Didn't think that was possible."

"My father's pretty influential."  Noiz left it at that.  He knew if he explained it any more, the other was bound to say something about riding coattails.  As if.

"You really don't say much."  Seragaki had stopped walked and was leaning on an empty desk.  "Its kind of annoying."

Noiz ignored that comment.

Seragaki let out an exasperated sigh.  "Whatever.  This is your desk.  Do what you want with it, just don't destroy it.  You seem to know where everything is, so I don't have to show you around."  He straightened and took a step towards Noiz.  He was within a foot of him, and it was a little too close for his liking.  The older man looked up slightly into Noiz's face.  "I'm surprised you didn't get yelled at for the piercings."

"Loudmouth said I could keep them as long as I didn't cause any trouble."

Seragaki snorted.  "Sounds like him."  He squinted and then said, "Say something again."

"Why?"

  _What the hell is up with this guy?_

"Just wondering if you've got a tongue piercing."

Noiz rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue to show off the two vertical bars.  He had just gotten the second one a month or two before.

Seragaki blinked.  "Wow, if you weren't such an ass, I'd say that its kinda hot."

Noiz pulled his tongue back into his mouth and leered down at the older man.  He smirked and said, "Think I'm hot, do ya?  What a surprise."

Seragaki rolled his eyes.  "You're a cocky ass."  He took a step back and then stepped around the blonde.  "Don't get into any trouble.  I'm leaving.  Your orders are probably on the desk.  Have fun."  Then he walked away.

Noiz couldn't help it.  He watched the blue-haired man walk away.

_Jesus, that ass..._

Noiz shook his head.

_Stop looking at his ass, fucker.  You're not here to get laid.  You're here to work._

The blonde walked around to sit at the desk.  There was a plague with his name on it.  He leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head, looking at the paper in front of him.  It was just as the guy had said.  Orders.

_Detective Wilhelm Stechen (Noiz),_

_Welcome to Precinct 21.  Your orders are as follows, given by Chief of Police Akushima:_

_Stay the fuck out of trouble.  Desk duty for a few weeks til I can find a partner that'll deal with you.  Paperwork is all you'll be doing until I deem you fit for field work.  Have fun._

That was it.  Just those few lines.  Akushima was a real cock-fuck.  But there wasn't anything Noiz could do.

"I guess I'll do some research."

 

* * *

 

 

*One Week Later*

"Has Akushima found a partner for you yet?"

Noiz looked up from what he was typing to see another officer standing in front of his desk.  Female.  Not worth his time.

"Nope," Noiz answered, going back to typing.  But that didn't seem to satisfy the chick in front him him.  She sat on the edge of his desk and put her hand fairly close to where Noiz's hand was on the mouse.  She had long, brown hair that was pulled into a braid that rested on her shoulder.  She leaned a little closer to him, her revealing shirt showing off more tit than Noiz wanted to see.

"You know, I could always request you," she said, her voice dripping seduction.

_So she's that type, eh?  Maybe I'd give it a try.  Haven't gotten laid in a while._

But Noiz decided against it.  He liked to stick with girls he wouldn't see again.  That way they wouldn't care about the things he needed to actually get off.

"Not interested."  Noiz went back to ignoring her.  She let out a pissed off noise and stomped away from his desk.  That was number three.

Noiz had done as he was asked.  Desk duty for a week so far.  He'd seen Akushima a few times, but the loudmouth didn't say anything to him.  He was perfectly fine with that.  The thing he wasn't fine with was that the blue-haired man (who Noiz's friend had dubbed the "boner-inducer" every since Noiz told him about him) was avoiding him.

It was his own fault, though.  

A few days after that first day, Seragaki had come to check on Noiz.  For what reason, the blonde couldn't guess.  But he apparently said something wrong to him.  The conversation had been pretty normal.  Noiz didn't say much.  Seragaki tried and failed to get him to open up.  Right, like Noiz wasn't gonna spill his guts to a stranger.  Didn't matter how hot the man was, Noiz would never divulge info about himself.  Ever.  He barely told Midoki anything.

The only thing Noiz could think that he said wrong to the man was, "You seem to be trying pretty hard for someone who called me a  _cocky ass_.  What's wrong?  You wanna get with me or something?  Is that why you're all over me?"  Noiz was just annoyed.  He didn't like people prying.  He though the best way to get the guy to leave him alone was to get him riled up.  He was fine with watching that...very attractive ass walk around without it needing to talk to him.

Apparently, the blonde had really insulted Seragaki, because the blue-haired man had called him an asshole and stormed away.

_It's not like I care._

_Oh, sure, you don't care.  Says the person who straightens in his seat whenever the door opens, hoping its Seragaki._

_Shut up and stay out of it._

Wait, a minute.  Did he seriously just tell his own brain to stay out of it?  Yeah, that was totally gonna work. 

Noiz shook his head.  Damn, he really needed to focus.  This wasn't the time to be thinking about a hot piece of ass.

"Stechen, c'mere."

Noiz looked up from his computer screen at the sound of his name.

_Speak of the fucking devil._

Seragaki was standing in the doorway to an office, weight on his right foot, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.  The lips that Noiz had (unconsciously) wanted to taste were pulled into a frown.  Unlike the other times he had seen the older man, his hair wasn't up in a ponytail.  His long hair went to the middle of his chest.  He was wearing the same outfit as the day Noiz had met him.

"What?"  Noiz asked.  He didn't want to get up.  If the older man really needed to talk to him, he could do it right here.

"Need to speak with you.  Privately."

Noiz sighed and pushed his chair out, standing up.  Making sure the chain of his wallet wouldn't catch on anything, he walked around the desk.  He kept his face expressionless, as usual, as he walked over to the blue-haired man.

"What?" Noiz said, crossing his arms as he stood in front of Seragaki.  The blue haired man nodded his head towards the office, signaling for the blonde to walk in.  When he did, Seragaki closed to door behind them.

"Still haven't been assigned a partner?"

Noiz let out a breath at the question.  

_That's four times today._

"No."

Seragaki nodded.  He walked over to his own desk and pulled out a form.  "'Kay.  Akushima's out for today, and he said that he wanted you to get a partner soon.  So I guess I can do that.  Gotta go by your preferences, though."

Noiz watched the man and saw that his amber eyes were rather dark, even darker circles underneath those eyes.  He probably wasn't getting enough sleep.  But that was the price of being a detective.  Calls never stopped.

"Stechen.  Stechen.  Noiz!"

"Huh?" Noiz muttered, shaking his head.  He didn't notice that he had zoned out while looking at Seragaki.  "What?"

"Preferences, dumbass."

Noiz blinked.  He had no idea.  He thought about it for a minute.  

While he thought, he started to hear a loud noise from outside the office.  It sounded like someone was yelling.  It also sounded like someone was running around.

"What the hell's going on out there?" Seragaki mumbled, glaring at the door.  Maybe someone got a case.

"AOBA!!" 

Seragaki flinched.  Sighing he said, "Shit...I know that voice.  Why the hell is he here?"

_He?  Maybe a boyfriend or something._

Seragaki walked back around the desk and made his way towards the door.  Before he could even touch the handle, though, the door flew open revealing a boy with pure-white hair.  He looked even younger than Noiz.  And his eyes were pink.  Other than that, he couldn't tell what the kid looked like.  He had a white medical mask covering the lower half of his face.  He wore a uniform of some kind.  It looked to be a high school uniform.  And a private school at that.

"Aoba!!"

Seragaki sighed.  "Clear, what are you doing here?"  He took a step towards the kid as the kid ran towards him, throwing his arms around his middle and hugging him tightly.  He was shaking and he buried his face in Seragaki's chest.  He was taller than the blue-haired man, but like this, the kid looked pretty small.  Seragaki put a hand on the fluffy white hair and the other on the kid's shoulder.  it seemed like the kid was crying.  "What's wrong?"

"I...I didn't k-know where e-else to g-go!!" the kid cried, his voice muffled by Seragaki's shirt.

"Why?" Seragaki questioned, his voice a little more intense.  "Tell me what happened."

The kid looked up and yelled something that made Seragaki's normally slightly pale face turn a sickly white.

"Mizuki's been kidnapped!!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *A SIG Sauer P220 is the standard issue service pistol that Japan uses. If you want to know more about the handgun, here is a link  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIG_Sauer_P220  
> I was gonna explain Akushima a little, like I did with Aoba, like describe him, but decided against it since we all know what he looks like anyway.  
> Other than that, I kept the personalities as normal as possible. I hope you guys like it, and also, if you guys can help me out with figuring out protocol for Japanese police officers, that would be great. I need to figure out like the way they read the rights of the people they arrest. I need to know like the order they do it in.  
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!!


	2. Disappearance of an Officer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mizuki has been kidnapped. Seragaki is without a partner, and he desperately needs one if he wants to continue to keep his cover. There's no one else to turn to.  
> "Noiz. You'll take over as Seragaki's partner from here on out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We will finally get to see Platinum Jail in this chapter, and we figure out just what is so important about this assignment.

"What do you mean, he's been kidnapped?"

Noiz, Seragaki, the kid named Clear, and Akushima were all sitting (well, Noiz was standing by the door, ready to escape if necessary) in the Chief's office.

"I mean that he's gone!" the kid cried, tears streaming down his face.  He still had the medical mask on.  Maybe he was a germophobe.  "He hasn't come home in almost three days!"

"Clear, he might just be busy." Seragaki was rubbing the kid's back, a box of tissues sitting in his lap.  "You know how fickle he can be sometimes."

Clear snapped his head up to look at Seragaki with angry, pink eyes.  "You had to have noticed that he wasn't at Platinum Jail these past few days.  He hasn't called, his phone is out of service!"  Clear stopped in his defense and look up at the ceiling.  "Oh, yeah.  This morning I got a text from a blocked number saying that someone had Mizuki, that unless you stopped investigation the Kingpin, we would never get him back."

All three of the others blinked.  Even Noiz stepped farther into the room.

"WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Akushima yelled, slamming his hands on the desk.  Clear jumped and looked down at his hands.

Noiz couldn't help himself.  It was like someone else was controlling his body.  He quickly walked up behind the kid and smacked him upside the head.  The kid's head titled to the side from the force, a look of shock widening his eyes.

"You fucking idiot."

"What the hell was that for!?" Seragaki yelled, standing up and grabbing Noiz's collar.  "You had no right to hit him, or call him an idiot!"

"Don't care if I had the right or not," Noiz bit out.  Don't punch him.  Don't punch him.  Noiz didn't want to hurt him.  "We were all thinking it.  Kids like that need some sense knocked into them."

"You bastard!" Seragaki pulled back his fist like he was about to punch the blonde, but Akushima kicked his desk, making the two jump away from each other.

"Calm down, you two."

Seragaki blinked and looked down at Clear, who was staring at him with an almost blank expression.  "Sorry, Clear."

The kid blinked, then shook his head vigorously, his white hair flying.  "No, its okay.  He's right.  I feel better now.  I actually don't feel as flustered."

Noiz scoffed and crossed his arms.  He walked back over to his spot near the door.

_Guess your lack of common decency actually helped with something._

"Alright, Clear," Akushima said, rubbing his temple.  "You said someone texted you.  Do you mind if we take your phone and see if we can track the sender down?"

Clear shook his head, taking a smartphone out of his jacket pocket.  "Not at all.  I have two others for emergencies anyway."

"Noiz, take that out to Shiki.  He should be in the tech room.  You know where that is?"

Noiz nodded.  Of course, he did.  He'd been hanging out there on his breaks.  He even knew who Shiki was.  The brown-haired technician was similar in personality to Noiz.  The blonde took the phone from Clear's hand and retreated out of the room.  He turned left and then headed down a hallway, stopping halfway down to knock on the door.

"Yo, Shiki."

The door flew open and in front of Noiz stood a rumpled twenty-four year old with glasses on top of his head, a bunch of wires draped over his shoulder.  "Noiz?" the guy mumbled, rubbing his eyes.  "What's up?"

"Need you to track a text message for me."

Shiki sighed, but held out his hand.  "What am I looking for?"

"Should be a recent text from a blocked number, saying something about never getting someone back."

"Alright.  I'll have in done in about ten minutes.  Where am I bring it to afterwards?"

"Chief's office."

"Gotcha."  Then the door shut, signaling to Noiz that it was time to go back.  Walking back down the hall and into Akushima's office, Noiz saw that the white-haired kid was gone.

"Noiz, sit."

Before he could even take anything in, Akushima ordered him to sit in the chair next to Seragaki.  He had a weird feeling about this.

"So, Clear went back home for now, but he filed an official report," Akushima explained, leaning back in his chair and taking a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket.  Tapping one out and lighting he, he blew the some upward.  "Mizuki is missing.  That's Seragaki's partner if you didn't know.  I believe I told you that they were on an undercover assignment, right?"

Noiz nodded.  The smell of the cig made his craving shoot up.  He'd been trying to quit, and if his bad feeling about this conversation was accurate, he was gonna need one.  Akushima must have noticed, and he held out the pack two both Seragki and Noiz.  Noiz took one, but was promptly surprised when the bluenette took one, too.

"Seragaki, explain it a bit more for him."

"'Kay," Seragaki said, taking a drag of his cig and let the smoke out slowly.  "Recently, we've been getting reports of an increase in gang and drug related crime, and they all seem to center around this one bar, Platinum Jail.  As far as we know, it showed up a few years ago and has since gained a lot of fame."  A pause and another drag.  "We found out that there is a leader of it all, but we don't know who it is or just how deep he's got everyone in on his plans.  So about a month ago, Mizuki and I started posing as bartenders at Platinum Jail, seeing if we could expose anything.  We've had no luck, but we kept trying.  And now Mizuki's gone, so I don't know how the investigation is going to go with just one of us."

Akushima stubbed out the cig in the ashtray by the computer.  "I've come up with a solution to that, but you're not gonna like it."

Noiz flicked the ash off in his hand, too lazy to lean forward.  And it wasn't like it would hurt him.  He glanced at the blue-haired man next to him, who seemed a little confused with an underlying hint of worry.

_Fucking hell, of course, he's worried.  His partner's been nabbed._

Akushima didn't say anything for a while, instead staring the two detectives down.

"Well, we might as well get it over with," the older man said, something glinting in his cold eyes.  "Noiz, you'll take over as Seragaki's partner from here on out."

"WHAT!?" 

The two yelled and flew to their feet in unison.

"What the hell, Akushima!?" Noiz growled.  "Why the hell do I gotta be his partner?"

Seragaki glared at the blonde and said, "I should be asking the same question.  Why do I have to take care of the brat?"

"Brat?  Like hell!  I don't wanna be bossed around by this jackass either!"

"Nice insult, brat."

"Shut it!"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!!"  There was Akushima's true personality again.  Yelling was the only thing he knew how to do perfectly.  Seragaki and Noiz glared at the Chief, and they saw a vein visibly popping out on his forehead.  He was still seated, but he looked pissed.  "I don't have any other choice at this point. I don't have any other detectives who could take Mizuki's place, Seragaki.  And Noiz, I'm choosing you for this because of your track record.  You know more about gang related violence than anyone else in this department.  You'd probably be able get more out of that bar than anyone else."

"Track record?" Seragaki questioned, throwing a glare at Noiz as he crossed his arms over his chest.  His amber eyes were bright with what looked like fury and curiosity together.  "What kinda track record are we talking about here?"

"I've been in and out of gangs my whole life.  Even had my own up until recently.  Their base isn't too far from here," Noiz explained, part of him wanting to freak the older man out.  He turned his attention to Akushima.  "I could probably get in touch with them and see what they know."

Akushima nodded.  "Do that.  For now, Seragaki is gonna fill you in on what you'll be doing.  You won't be breaking your cover.  I'll be calling the manager of Platinum Jail, letting him know about Mizuki's kidnapping and about a new recruit.  Noiz, you'll be posing as a bartender with Seragaki.  Your assignment is to learn what you can about Mizuki's disappearance without getting too much attention.  Also, we got a warning about one of the dancers getting harassed, so keep an eye on that."

"Which dancer?" Seragaki said, his eyes growing wide.  It was as if he knew what Akushima was talking about.

"Dunno.  Check that out while you're at it."  Akushima stood up.  "This place is a top priority right now, you two.  Try to work together.  Also, take the rest of the day to go over the previous cases with the bar.  But don't do it here.  Don't wanna alarm anyone else."

Seragaki let out a half sigh and half growl.  "Fine.  I guess I don't have a choice."  His arms were still crossed as he turned to look at Noiz.  The blonde was playing with the piercings on his lip with his teeth.  He found it helped to calm him down.  "We'll take the files over to my place.  I don't have a shift today."

Noiz grunted.  To be perfectly honest, he didn't mind being Seragaki's partner.  He just didn't want to be compared to this Mizuki guy.  Apparently, he and Seragaki had been partners every since they joined the force, and they were the best team in the department.

"That settles it.  You guys get going."  Just as the two turned to walk away, Akushima stopped them.  "Wait, Noiz, did you give Shiki the phone?"

"Yeah.  Said ten minutes."

"Alright.  Also, Seragaki, on your way out, tell Tsubaki to put surveillance on Clear.  They might go after him to get at you."  Seragaki nodded.  Clear was obviously pretty important to them all.  The two younger men then left Akushima to his own devices.

"I'll go tell Tsubaki.  You get your stuff ready.  Five minutes," Seragaki said, throwing a look at Noiz.  The blonde ran a hand through his hair, ruffling it up.  "Do you know who Tsubaki is?"

"Not a clue."

"She's the one who brushed off this morning," Seragaki said, smirking.  He seemed to be in a better mood.  "Good thing, too.  She's kind of known to be pretty easy.  But she's got a thing about sleeping with people."  He said no more on the matter, instead walking over to the brunette from that morning.

_God...that ass..._

Noiz shook his head.  He had to stop looking at Seragaki's ass all the time.  It was obvious it was a lost cause.  He wasn't gonna get any treatment out of Seragaki.  

_I really need to get laid._

Noiz grunted to himself as he gathered what few things he had brought with him.  He stuck his badge in his back pocket and threw on his dark-brown, leather jacket.  His gun was already on his belt, but he grabbed the bag he had put under the desk with his laptop.

A few minutes later, Seragaki walked back over with a hoodie on, his hair in a ponytail, and a set of keys around his finger.  "Ready?"

Noiz nodded, slinging the bag over his shoulder.  "Didn't have much to grab."

Seragaki smiled lightly and then continued, "I gotta stop off at Archives to grab the files, so wait down by the elevators, okay?"

Nodding again, Noiz walked off.  First a week of paperwork and now a night of cramming.  He felt like he was back in high school.

_I wonder if they have a vending machine downstairs._

Noiz hadn't had much to eat lately since he had been so busy.  He guessed he could always stop off at a convenience store on the way to Seragaki's place.  Noiz stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the lobby.  When the bell finally dinged and the doors opened, Noiz saw someone very familiar.

"Ah!   _Bruder_!!"

"Theo?" Noiz said, almost dropped his bag.  "What the hell are you doing here?"

Noiz's younger brother was standing next to glass window of reception.  He had a big grin on his face that grew even wider when he saw his brother.  Theo looked a lot like Noiz, just younger and without as many piercings.  His hair was also a bit longer.

"Father wanted me to drop something off before we left for home!" Theo said, his Japanese almost as fluent as Noiz's.

Walking up to his little brother, Noiz pulled him in for a hug.  Theo was the one person in his family that he could say he had any attachment to.  The kid always managed to bring a smile to Noiz's face, which in of itself was a difficult task.  "I didn't even know you were in Midorijima."

"Oh," Theo said, pulling back from the hug.  He looked up at his brother and said, "Well, Father told me that I wasn't to come visit you.  But since you were at work, and we're leaving in an hour, I thought I could drop off something Father wanted to give you."

_Give me?_

Noiz let go of Theo and crossed his arms.  "Give me what?"

A manila envelope was thrust towards Noiz.  "This," Theo said.  "I'm not sure what it is, but he said that it was something you needed."  Noiz nodded, opening the envelope carefully.  He didn't like it when Father used his younger brother as messenger.  It usually meant something bad.  Taking whatever it was out of the envelope, Noiz saw the familiar fancy handwriting that belonged to Father.

_Wilhelm,_  
Don't mess this job up.  Akushima sacrificed a lot to get you this job.  Theo will be returning to Germany with us.  He has his studies to focus on so you are not to contact him until his exams are done.  Don't get into too much trouble.  Try to mature during this experience.  Also, I have enclosed any important documents you may or may not need so that you will have no reason to contact us should something involving them comes up.    
Father

"Whatever, bastard," Noiz muttered, crumpling the paper up.  The rest of the papers were certificates and such things.  Not that he needed any of them.

"I'm sorry."

Noiz looked up at Theo, who had a sad look on his face.  "I knew that bringing that to you would make you upset.  I know you hate Mother and Father for what they did to you all those years..."  Tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Theo, stop it.  You're fine.  You didn't do anything wrong."  He hugged his brother again and continued, "It was great seeing you.  Good luck on exams, okay?"

Theo smiled and nodded.  "I'll try."  His eyes suddenly went wide, as if he realized something.  "Oh, yeah.  I have a gift for you."  He dug around in the messenger bag he carried until he withdrew a box.  "Here!"

Noiz took the box and as he opened it, he realized that it was a phone case.  It was green and was in the shape of a rabbit.  "Uh, Theo...?"

His younger brother beamed at him.  "You never realized it yourself, but you have always been obsessed with rabbits.  So I decided to get you a case that went along with it."  Before Noiz could stop him, Theo reached into Noiz's jacket pocket and withdrew his smartphone.  Taking the case, as well, the younger boy snapped it onto the phone and then gave it back.  

"Theo...I don't need this."

"I know," Theo said, taking a step back.  "But I haven't seen you in a few months, so I wanted to give you something to remember me by since we won't see each other for another three years."

Noiz looked at his brother in confusion.  "Why three years?  Aren't you coming to visit in a few months?"

Theo shook his head in sadness.  "Father won't let me."  He sighed.  "I'm sorry, brother.  But I have to go.  If I'm late, I'll get in a lot of trouble."

Noiz nodded.  "Alright. Stay safe, okay?"

"I will.  Bye bye!"

And with that, Noiz's ditzy younger brother disappeared through the doors.  As soon as he left, Noiz felt like the room grew darker and colder.  

_Three years...its all that bastard's doing...I know it._

Noiz ran a hand through his hair once again.  He wished he would have been able to spend a little more time with Theo.  They rarely saw each other anymore.  Since Noiz had decided to take the cop route, it was decided that Theo would take over the family business.  But the more Noiz thought about it, the more he realized that that was his father's plan all along.  Noiz was never meant to take over the business.  He was meant to get as far from his family as possible.  Why wouldn't his family want nothing to do with him?  He was a freak.

_Stop it.  You don't need to go down that road._

"Hey, everything okay?" 

Noiz snapped his head up at the voice.  Seragaki was standing next to him with a file box in his arms.  He had the same concerned look as when Noiz last had a lapse, a week before.  Noiz didn't want to see that look.

"Yeah.  Fine."

"Who was that?  You guys looked really alike."

Noiz blinked.  Seragaki must have seen the entire exchange.

"My younger brother.  He wanted to see me before he went home."

Seragaki nodded and left it at that, for which Noiz was grateful.  People knowing his business was not something he wanted.

"Ready to go?  My apartment is a few blocks from here, so we can walk."

"Alright."

 

* * *

 

 

Noiz watched Seragaki struggle with the key to his apartment and the file box.  He could hear scratching coming from the other side of the door.  Noiz remembered something about the older man having a dog.  After a few seconds, Noiz started to hear yapping.

"Jesus, I know, I know, Ren.  I'm going," Seragaki mumbled, tossing his head to the side to move his bangs out of his face.

Having seen enough of the older man struggle, Noiz took the box from his hands.  Seragaki threw a thankful look in Noiz's direction and unlocked the door, unleashing the black ball of pure fluff that was Ren.  The dog barreled out of the door and jumped up at the blue-haired man, yapping happily.  Then Ren turned and looked at Noiz and let out a deep growl that, if Noiz hadn't been looking at him, would have seemed like it came from a different dog.

"Ren, quit it."  Seragaki leaned down to pick up the ball of fur and the growling stopped.  "Sorry, he's a little protective, but he's harmless."

Noiz nodded slowly.  He had never been a pet person.  His parents hadn't let him have one as a kid and his high school didn't accept animals in the dorms.

Seragaki walked into the apartment, Noiz trailing behind him.  It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either.  It had a fairly large kitchen and living room, and down the hall were three doors.  Probably two bedrooms and a bathroom. 

"You can put the box on the table.  I'm gonna let Ren out, so make yourself comfortable."

Noiz watched as Seragaki put a leash on the dog and walked back out the door, leaving Noiz alone in the apartment.  He put the box down and took off his jacket, hanging it up on the coat rack that was near the kitchen.  It was late afternoon, so daylight still poured into the apartment.  It was basic and only a little personalized.  As Noiz stood in the living room, he saw that the shelf next to the TV was full of movies and CD's.  There was a pair of headphones and three different coffee cups on the coffee table in front of the couch.  This was definitely a single man's home.

After a few minutes, the door opened again and the black Pomeranian flew into the apartment, followed by Seragaki.  The dog ran around Noiz's feet for a few seconds, and then he sat down, swishing his tail and panting.

"He wants you to pick him up," Seragaki called from the doorway where he was taking his shoes and jacket off.  The older man had a smile on his face as he hung up the leash.  "He doesn't normally warm up to people this easily.  When Mizuki first came over, Ren growled at him for two hours and even tried to bite him when he sat on the couch.  You should consider yourself lucky."

Noiz grunted.  Instead of picking the dog up, he squatted down to scratch him behind the ears.  He was rewarded by a lick to the hand.  Seragaki started walking over, causing the dog to rush back off towards him.

"Enough, Ren," Seragaki said quietly.  The dog immediately calmed down and laid down on the floor.  The blue haired man walked over to the couch, bringing the box with him.  "We should probably get started.  This is gonna take a while."  Noiz nodded and Seragaki motioned for him to sit on the couch.  Doing so, he set his laptop bag on the floor at his feet.  

The older man took the top off the box and began withdrawing a bunch of files.  Laying them out on the coffee table, he started humming to himself.  Noiz recognized the tune from a Goatbed song he had heard a few months ago.

"Didn't think you'd like Goatbed," Noiz muttered.

Seragaki blinked and stopped humming.  "Oh, I've liked them since I was a teenager.  I think they're pretty cool."

Noiz snorted.  "Goatbed?  Cool?  Yeah, right."

"Shut up," Seragaki said, laughing a little.  "Okay, since you're gonna be going undercover, I gotta let you in on a few things.  Since this place is pretty popular, its got tight security.  Because of that, we are able to wear our guns with us, but only when behind the bar.  As soon as we walk away from it, the gun goes in a little cubby hole.  Hmmm, the uniform is the same as what I'm wearing.  The manager will give it to you when you get there."  Seragaki paused for a minute, flipping through one of the files.  Noiz caught a glimpse of a man with black hair and a large scar over his nose.  "Oh, and don't call me Seragaki when we're there.  Call me Aoba.  You might as well start getting used to it before you actually start."

Noiz nodded.  He was perfectly okay with calling the older man Aoba.  Didn't bother him in the least.

They talked about the main points of the investigation for a long time.  The next time Noiz looked at his phone, it was almost eight at night.

"Is that a bunny?" Sera-uh, Aoba asked.  He was staring at the phone case that Theo had put on it.

"Uh...yeah."  Noiz wasn't entirely sure what to say.  Theo had always done strange things like this.  Most of the time it got Noiz laughed at.  It didn't bother him much now, but Noiz remembered when he would get bullied for the things that Theo gave him.  He guessed that that was one of the reasons he now stayed away from most people.

Noiz heard Aoba chuckle quietly, and he flinched.  It didn't bother him anymore...it didn't.

"That's kinda cute."

Noiz looked up at the bluenette in surprise.  He didn't expect him to be so...chill about the bunnies.  But before Noiz could say anything in return, his stomach let out a loud growl, drowning out the sound of the music Aoba had put on a couple hours before.  Aoba blinked and then giggled, trying not to laugh.

"Hungry?" Aoba asked, standing up.  Noiz shrugged and Aoba rolled his eyes.  "With a sound like that, I'd think you are."  The bluenette walked into the kitchen and went through a few cupboards.  "Jesus," he muttered, throwing them an annoyed look.  He looked back at Noiz, who's eyebrows were raised.  "I haven't been home much...so I've got nothing to eat.  Unless you want dog food because apparently I managed to get enough to last Ren six years."

That last comment made Noiz chuckle a little.  Of course he would get more food for his dog than himself.  That's how dog people were.

The bluenette walked back over to Noiz and looked down at him.  Noiz kept his eyes on his hands, knowing that if Aoba got too close, he might do something he would (possibly) regret.

"Wanna go get something to eat then?"

Noiz looked up, confused. 

"Uh...sure?"

The older man smiled and held out a hand.  "Then get up, brat."

Shocked as he was, Noiz instead got up on his own.  No touching.  Not at all.  Not gonna happen.

After a few minutes of getting shoes and coats on, and trying to settle Ren down, Aoba decided that he would bring the Pomeranian with him. 

"I haven't been on a real walk with him for a while, and if we can just sit outside and eat.  Its not all that cold yet."

Noiz stayed silent. 

As they walked down the street in the direction of all the fast food restaurants, Aoba began to talk randomly.  Noiz had realized that the older man tended to babble when he didn't know exactly what to say.

"Mizuki was a childhood friend, you know?  So when we both ended up at the same precinct, it was kinda obvious that we would be partners."

At the mention of Mizuki, Noiz flinched, but tried to hide it.  He felt like Aoba was about to talk about how amazing Mizuki was, but instead the older man fell silent.  It took Noiz a minute to realize that the silence was one of pain.  He looked at the bluenette to see him wiping a tear from the corner of his eye.

"You okay?" Noiz mumbled, feeling like he should say something.

"Mhm," Aoba hummed, sniffling.  "I'm just worried.  I know Mizuki can take care of himself, but the fact that he hasn't even tried to contact Clear is unnerving."

Speaking of Clear...."What's up with that kid anyway?"

Aoba looked at the blonde and blinked.  "Who?  Clear?"  Noiz nodded.  "Well, he and Mizuki have been together for years."

"Together as in?"

"Dating."

Noiz eyebrows rose quickly, giving the older man a confused look.  "Seriously?"

Aoba nodded slowly, stopping so Ren could sniff a tree.  "Yeah, I know.  Age differences and stuff.  But even though they've been together for almost four years, Mizuki hasn't touched him once.  Says that he wants to wait until Clear's old enough.  The kid sure has tried, though.  I remember one time that Clear almost succeeded in getting him to do it, but Mizuki ran out of the apartment and didn't stop until he got to my place.  It was kinda funny."

"How so?" Aoba seemed to be in a better mood now since was becoming very animated as he spoke.  Noiz wanted to keep him talking, not wanting to see that sad look on his face anymore. 

"Mizuki was all wide-eyed and pacing across the room, and complaining about how badly he wanted to go along with what Clear wanted, but he just couldn't.  And then he started going on about how Clear had suddenly gotten all demanding and dominant.  He said that when that happened, he was about to jump on him, but managed to hold himself back and run away.  But he was acting like such a girl. It was funny."

The older man laughed at the memory.  But then his face went dark again. 

"When I find who took him, I'm not gonna give them any mercy."

Noiz blinked.  The voice was low, and lacked all the qualities that had previously pulled Noiz from that dark place in his own mind.  It wasn't until then that Noiz realized just how much Aoba cared for Mizuki.  He was about to put a hand on the older man's shoulder, but he started walking again. 

"Any ideas on what you want?"

Noiz caught up to the bluenette in a few steps but shrugged.  He mostly ate convenience store food, so he wasn't sure just what he liked.

Aoba nodded and then said, "Pizza it is, then."

After a few more minutes of walking, the reached a pizza shop that seemed pretty popular.  They had to wait almost an hour to get their food.  When it was done, the two of them (plus Ren) walked over to a bench that wasn't that far away.  They started eating in silence, enjoying the food.  After about ten minutes, Noiz asked, "What was Akushima talking about when he said that one of the dancers was getting harassed?"

Aoba nodded and handed his crust down to the black ball of fur that was sleeping on his feet.

"I forgot to mention this before, but Platinum Jail is a gay bar, and it has dancers and the like."  He paused, glancing at Noiz, expecting him to be annoyed at the fact of it being a gay bar, but the blonde said nothing.  "Since a lot of drugs and gangs run through this bar, there are certain people who like to harass others.  There are a few dancers who have been dealing with stuff like that lately, but only one of them has been getting the brunt of it.  He's actually a fairly good friend of mine."

"So Akushima wants us to look into it?"

"Yeah.  And personally, I want to, as well.  The dancer that I'm talking about has had his fair share of run ins with drugs and the like.  He's tried to go clean numerous times, but hasn't managed to succeed.  Its got him a little depressed that he can't seem to quit."

Noiz nodded.  Drugs were something he had never been interested in, but he understood what other people saw in them.  He understood that for some people, drugs were the only way to deal with their everyday lives. But he still didn't think they were the right way to go.

"What's the dancer's name?" Noiz asked, looking down at his phone. He had texted one of his old gang members about Platinum Jail, and the guy had sent info to his laptop.

"Sei.  I'm not sure of his last name.  He never told me."

Noiz nodded, typing the name into his notes so he could look him up later.

"Why did you want to know?"

"I told you that I used to be in a gang right?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, the main purpose of it was to collect information and sell it.  I used to be a hacker, so I still have a lot of the resources I used to have access to.  Once I get back to my laptop, I'll be able to know more.  One of my contacts got me some info."

Aoba looked at blonde, blinking.  "You can't be serious..."

Noiz laughed and stood up.  "If you don't believe me," he said, looking down at the bluenette, whose eyes were wide with suspicion.  Noiz held out his hand.  "If you don't believe me," he repeated.  "Let me show you."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKay I lied, this was a lead up chapter. oops....sorry guys. Next chapter will be about Platinum Jail. I promise. And I know this chapter was probably pretty boring...it took me forever to write it and I'm still not sure if I like it. Oh well. Chapter three will be more about the main part of this case.


	3. Platinum Jail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noiz starts his undercover work with Aoba at Platinum Jail. 
> 
> I know I suck at summaries...I'm sorry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more characters are brought into play.  
> And I know, finally a new chapter, right?  
> This one might not be as long as the others, but bear with me.

Noiz sat in his apartment. It was four in the morning, and he hadn't slept yet. After what happened at Aoba's, Noiz didn't think he would be able to sleep for a long time.

After they had come back from eating, and Noiz had showed Aoba just how much of a hacker he was, the bluenette had been anything but impressed. He had lectured the blonde about the repercussions of being involved in that sort of thing, especially since he was a cop now. For most of the night, Noiz had felt like he and Aoba were finally on good terms. But after the lecture, Noiz had grabbed his computer and stormed out of the apartment. He had never been good at accepting what other people thought about his “hobby”. Not that that was any reason to call Aoba what he had, but it was too late now.

_Why did you have to call him a cunt…? Why? Where the hell are your manners!? He had every reason to yell at you! Hacking is illegal!_

Noiz swore and threw the empty can of beer at the wall, causing the can to bend at an awkward angle. Just as he was about to get out of his chair and pick it up, he heard a high pitched “P!” come from his computer.

Turning back to it, a holographic cube popped out of the third computer screen.

_**Noiz! You have a message from M** _ _**o** _ _**doki, p!!** _

Noiz turned to the green cube that was bouncing on top of the desk. A few years back, he had decided to create an AI that could serve as a companion to his computer. Whenever he didn't have the computer or laptop on him, he would switch the cube's chip to his phone and it would appear as an app on the phone. The one person he had deemed a friend, Modoki, had helped with the creation of the cube, which had partially taken on his friend's name, Usagimodoki.

“Alright, what does it say?” Noiz asked, turning to look at the holograph.

_**He says that he has more information, p!! And that he wants you to voice chat with him!!** _

Noiz flinched at every “P!”. He almost regretted programming it with such a high pitched voice.

“Okay, bring up Skype and dial him.”

_**Roger!!** _

After a few seconds of it ringing, Modoki's face came into view. He actually looked a lot like Theo, but a little bit older and had blue eyes. Maybe that was why Noiz had taken such a liking to the guy.

“Yo, Noiz! How ya doin'?”

For all of Modoki's cuteness, he spoke totally different from his image.

“Usagimodoki told me that you wanted to talk,” Noiz said simply, hoping that this wasn't going to turn into a three hour call. Modoki had a habit of reliving every moment of time that the two hadn't been together. It was a very bad habit.

The blue eyed blonde nodded and held up what looked like a hard drive. “Yeah, managed to get this off a few guys that'd been workin' near that bar you told me 'bout.”

“What's on it?”

“I dunno yet. Its heavily encrypted, but I should get into it in a few days. I do have some regular info for ya, though, if ya want it.”

Noiz rolled his eyes and rolled his tongue piercing around a bit. “Of course, I want it. Just spit it out.”

The other blonde put the hard drive down and ran a hand through his hair, seemingly searching the desk in front of him for something. He grumbled a bit and then held up a piece of paper. It had a picture of what looked like a native man on it.

“This guy is a pimp. Apparently, he partially runs the business around the bar, but there is one of other person that controls the entire operation.”

“Yeah, the kingpin Akushima was talking about. They haven't been able to find any leads on him.”

“From what I've been hearin', he's not your average gangster. He's supposedly a very able businessman. No one knows for sure who he is, but everyone's been sayin' that they wouldn't be surprised if he owned some major corporation.”

Noiz nodded. It was true. Most of what he'd been able to find out said that the kingpin's drug and crime ring is super meticulous, almost corporation-like. It was run like the same way a CEO would run a company. There were rarely any mistakes. Whoever the kingpin was, he wasn't someone to mess with if you didn't know what you were doing.

“Did you hear me?”

Noiz blinked and looked back at the screen, where Modoki was glaring at him. “No, I didn't. What?”

“I said that there is two people you could ask at the bar about all this that might know somethin'. The manager of the place and a dancer that has connections to the pimp I showed you.”

As soon he heard the word, something clicked in his head. “Dancer?”

“Yeah, apparently one of the dancers there is under the protection of the pimp, but no one knows for sure if its just a rumor or not.”

“Aoba and Akushima said something about a dancer being targeted for harassment. Maybe it has to do with the pimp.”

“I dunno, but I'll look into it some more.”

“Do that.”

“Gotcha. See ya.”

Noiz nodded and the call was disconnected. As Noiz sat there in silence, he thought about the strange ring of potential suspects that he had stumbled upon. Picking up the tablet next to him and a graphics pen, he started to draw a rough outline of it.

 

**Kingpin ( unknown )**

**^**

**Pimps ( Possibly more than one )**

**^**

**Managers of bar ( One is in on police investigation )**

**^**

**Bartenders ( Aoba/Mizuki undercover plus at least two more )**

**^**

**Dancers ( One is being harassed and possible protection of pimp )**

 

The more Noiz thought about it, the more he wanted to know. This was why he had become a hacker. He always wanted to know more.

Noiz groaned and leaned back in his chair. He was starting to get tired, but if he wanted to not be late for work, he wouldn't be able to sleep.

“Coffee...” Noiz whispered as he pulled himself from the computer chair. Just as he did so, he heard another high pitched, “P!” He turned back to the computer to see Usagimodoki popping out of the screen again. “What is it?”

_**You must leave for work in ten minutes, p!!** _

“Ten? I don't have work until 8:30...”

The cube bounced on the desk and pulled Noiz's email up.

_**Police Chief Akushima sent you an email at** _ _**1800 hours saying that you were to report to work early for case briefing for your new assignment, p!!** _

Noiz blinked and leaned forward to look at the email. What the cube said was true, and it looked like the email had never been opened before Usagimodoki pulled it up. “And you didn't tell me this last night because…?”

_**You did not ask me to check your email, p!!** _

“Fucking hell...” Noiz muttered as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Christ, send him a message saying that I'm going to be a little late. No more than ten minutes, though.”

_**P!!** _

At the cube's affirmative sound, Noiz ran to the bathroom to shower as quickly as he could.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“You're late again...”

Noiz put his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath. For once, he hadn't gotten lost on the way there, but he was indeed late. After taking a five minute shower, he had rushed to get dressed and grab all his things so he could run all the way to the precinct. When he finally got there, Aoba and Akushima were standing in the Chief's office with matching looks of annoyance.

Akushima was always annoyed so that wasn't anything new. Aoba, on the other hand…seeing him annoyed tugged at something in Noiz that made him very uncomfortable.

_Of course, he would be annoyed. Not only are you late, you also called him a cunt._ _Goddam_ _m_ _it, stop thinking about that._

“Noiz!! Are you fucking listening to me!?”

Noiz came back to the world just as Akushima was starting to yell at him.

“Uh...no, sir. I wasn't.”

Akushima rolled his eyes and said, “I said that in about an hour, Aoba is going to bring you over to Platinum Jail, where you will be briefed on just about what you are to be doing. Its pretty basic.”

Noiz nodded. All of this was stuff he already knew, but seeing as how bad of a mood Akushima was in, he didn't want to push his luck. Akushima continued to talk for almost ten more minutes before he told Aoba and Noiz to go on their way.

As they stood in the elevator, waiting for the doors to open, Aoba turned to Noiz. “Just so we're clear, I am still immensely pissed off at you. I will be civil to keep up appearances, but don't expect any special treatment from me.”

Noiz nodded. He expected as much. Aoba was going to mad at him for quite a while.

As the doors dinged and opened, Aoba grabbed onto Noiz's sleeve and pulled him in the opposite direction of the main doors.

“Where are we going?” Noiz wondered, looking down at where Aoba was holding his sleeve.

“Back door. That's where my car is parked. The bar is about ten minutes away by car. And I'm guessing you don't drive.”

“I do. Just don't have a car.”

“Exactly.”

Neither said anything more as Aoba led him through the back door of the precinct to where a dark blue, two-door car was parked. As soon as the door closed behind them, Aoba let go of Noiz's sleeve and walked over to the driver's side. It took a second for it to register that Noiz was supposed to get into the passenger seat.

As soon as he opened the door, Noiz was hit by the smell of what seemed like Ocean Breeze air freshener. When Noiz looked at the dash, he saw a small tub of oil beads.

_That's where the smell is coming from. Ocean Breeze totally fits this guy._

As soon as both were in the car and buckled in, Aoba turned the key in the ignition and threw the car in reverse, looking over his shoulder to make sure he wouldn't hit anyone. The employee parking lot of the precinct was always a war zone. There were too many cars for too little a space.

The drive didn't take long, but seemed longer as they spent the entire time in silence. Noiz didn't have anything to say and he knew that Aoba wasn't in any mood to talk. He felt that the bluenette was going to be pissed at him for a long time.

It wasn't long before a three story building with a giant neon sign that read, “Platinum Jail” came into view. The sign was off, but you could still read the letters fairly easily. From outside, the bar looked rather normal. Not at all like a bar, in fact. It looked like a regular apartment building.

“If you're wondering why it looks like an apartment building is because it is...technically.”

Noiz looked at Aoba in confusion.

Aoba rolled his amber eyes and explained, “The dancers and waiters all live in apartments on the third floor. There are about fifteen dancers and ten waiters. The manager here is a partial owner, so he made the decision to help out some of the workers that didn't have homes to go back to.”

“If he's the partial owner, doesn't that mean that he should know who the kingpin is?”

“Not really. The kingpin is, yes, a partial owner, but he is completely anonymous. The manager was approached by the kingpin's lawyer, who settled the deal. No one knows exactly who the kingpin is. The manager here noticed that the crime and the drugs have increased substantially, and he never wanted the bar to become something like this, so he came to us.”

As they pulled into a parking spot, Noiz noticed that Aoba became visibly tense.

“Are you okay?”

Aoba said nothing, instead jerked his chin at something in front of them. When Noiz followed Aoba's gaze, he saw a rather skinny man with shoulder length black hair in a big puffy jacket being handed something by a hooded figure.

“That better not be what I think it is...” Noiz heard Aoba mutter. Noiz knew what Aoba was thinking. A drug deal. It wasn't that uncommon in these parts, but Aoba seemed to know who the black haired man was. As soon as the hooded figure had turned and disappeared, Aoba shut the car off and threw open his door. When he did, the black haired man turned in their direction.

“Aoba!” The man looked shocked, but had an almost happy look to his face. Noiz got out of the car as well and the two started walking over to the other.

“Sei, what just happened?” Aoba didn't even give the man time to react before he snatched whatever it was out of the man's hand. “I thought you weren't using anymore.”

The man's mood visibly fell. “I know...I know that I said that...but...he came after me again and said that if I didn't pay up, he was gonna bring Usui into all of this….and I didn't want that to happen to her...”

Aoba sighed. He stuck the little packet into his pocket and pulled the taller man into a tight hug. Aoba was almost engulfed by the giant, puffy, red jacket that he wore. Although he was taller, Sei seemed to slouch a lot, making him seem smaller.

“Its okay. I know why you did it. Just next time, call me, okay? You know that I'll do whatever I can to help.”

“I know...but I didn't want you to get in trouble at the precinct...” Sei hugged the bluenette back, but not as hard. It seemed that Sei was rather weak in comparison. After a few minutes, Aoba released the black haired man and turned slightly to Noiz.

“Noiz, this is Sei, that dancer I told you about yesterday.” He turned to look at Sei again. “Sei, this is Noiz. Until we find Mizuki, he's going to be filling in as my partner and he'll be undercover here as well.”

Sei nodded, but looked at Noiz in apprehension.

“Don't worry, Sei,” Aoba said, putting a hand on the taller man's shoulder, “You can trust him just as much as me. If anything happens and I'm not around, you can go to Noiz just as you did with Mizuki.”

Sei nodded again and then looked back at the bar. “You should probably get in there. He's going a little nuts since the bar was trashed again.”

Aoba sighed and asked, “What happened this time?”

Shrugging, Sei started walking towards the bar with Aoba next to him and Noiz trailing behind. “No idea. It was fine when I went to bed last night, but when we woke up, it was trashed. Tables all over the place, bottles broken, a window was shattered. There weren't any loud noises last night that I can remember, but I haven't talked to anyone else yet.”

Aoba nodded as the three of them made their way towards the back door of the bar. As soon as Aoba opened the door, Noiz heard loud yelling.

“I don't fucking care how much you wanna charge me! Get the hell over here and fix that damn window!” There was a pause and then, “No fucking shit!! I know just as well as you do how things work around here! We have a big group of people showing up in a few hours and I need that window fixed ASAP!!”

When the three walked into the main area, Noiz saw a man with a black side ponytail that was wearing a red kimono over a pair of dark colored jeans. There was a large sword strapped to his back. Sei waved as he walked up the stairs to his room and Aoba and Noiz stood in the doorway to the main area as the man continued to yell into the phone. After a couple more minutes, the man hung up angrily. He had his back to the other two, but Noiz could see that he was running a hand through the long bangs that seemed to cover half of his face.

Aoba cleared his throat, causing the man to turn around. Noiz noticed that he had a rather large scar over his nose and his eyes were almost red.

“Aoba!” The scarred man walked towards Aoba, a giant grin on his face. “What's up? I thought you weren't supposed to work today.”

Aoba smiled and nodded towards Noiz. “This is Noiz. He's a rookie on the force, but until we find Mizuki, he's gonna be taking over as my partner. So he's gonna need a uniform and I was hoping that he could take Mizuki's place as a bartender. I'll watch over him and teach him all the stuff, okay?”

The scarred man turned to look at Noiz as if he just noticed that the blonde was standing there. The smile slipped from his face and he slightly glared at Noiz.

“Ah. Yeah, Akushima did mention something about it.” The scarred man paused and then held out his hand. “I'm Koujaku, the manager here. Apart from me and Sei, only two other people know that Aoba and Mizuki were undercover here. So you have to keep that under wraps.” Noiz nodded. He already knew that. He shook Koujaku's hand just as the other was turning back to Aoba. “Has Sei met the rookie yet? He said he was going outside for a few minutes.”

Aoba's face fell and he answered, “Yeah, he did. Did you know that they pressured Sei into using again?”

“What?”

“When we got here, there was a deal going on between Sei and a hooded guy. I'm guessing it was on of _their_ lackeys.”

Koujaku sighed and ran a hand through his bangs. “Did you see who the guy was?”

Aoba shook his head. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small packet that he had taken from Sei. “It's SCRAP.”

“Shit...”

Aoba noticed how confused Noiz was and said, “SCRAP is a new drug that's been in circulation lately. Its extremely potent, but also extremely dangerous.” He then turned back to Koujaku and continued, “He said that they threatened to go after Usui if he didn't buy more. So Sei felt like he didn't have a choice.”

Koujaku nodded.

“Who's Usui?” Noiz asked, having heard the name twice now with no explanation as to who the person was.

Both of them turned to Noiz and a pained look crossed over their faces.

“Usui...she's Sei's little sister. She's been in the hospital recovering from an accident that happened about a year and a half ago, so Sei started working here as a way to help pay the hospital bills. They're both orphans, so they don't have any parents to watch over them or pay the bills.”

When Aoba was finished explaining, they both shook their heads as if to throw off bad thoughts.

“Okay, well, Aoba you can go get changed and start doing inventory. Noiz, come with me.”

Koujaku started to walk off, Noiz trailing behind him. Something about the kimono-clad man annoyed Noiz, and he couldn't exactly place why. As soon as they had walked through yet another door and it had slightly slammed behind them, Koujaku turned to Noiz with a very dark look in his eyes.

“I don't know if you requested this gig or if that idiot Akushima decided it on his own, but you better be careful around Aoba. After Mizuki was taken, he was a wreck. And you know who helped him get slightly better? Me. So you better not fuck it all up, got it?”

Noiz blinked. Now he understood why this guy annoyed him. He was possessive of things that weren't even his.

“Whatever, dude,” Noiz said after a beat. “Its not like I wanted to go after him anyway. He's my partner, and I'll back him up if he needs it, but I've got no reason to go after him in the way you're planning. And if you like him that much, you should tell him so yourself.”

Koujaku smirked and crossed his arms. Leaning back against the wall, he said, “Just wanted to make it clear. And if you hadn't noticed, Aoba only has eyes for one person, and that person is missing. I've got no chance. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna protect him.”

Noiz said nothing. He knew that there was more to the two of them than Aoba explained, and this was it.

Koujaku grabbed a bag off of the shelf next to him and tossed it to Noiz. “This is your uniform. When you're undercover here, this is what you'll wear. I'm sure Aoba has told you, but you can have your handgun on you as long as you either stay behind the bar, or if you are confident that you can keep it hidden on your person. Also, you're badge needs to stay hidden. We cannot have anyone else knowing that you are here undercover.”

“How does Sei know?” Noiz blurted. He hadn't meant to say anything but now he couldn't take it back.

“He found out while Mizuki was still here. Aoba and Mizuki had been talking about something precinct related and Sei had overheard their conversation.”

Noiz nodded. There were apparently two other people at the bar that knew about Aoba being undercover, but Noiz was sure he would find out who they were soon enough. After a few more rules were said, Koujaku pointed Noiz in the direction of the break and changing rooms.

As Noiz was changing into the uniform, he noticed that it was not something he would normally wear. It was the exact same thing that Aoba had been wearing when he had first met him. Black dress shoes, dark gray dress pants, a white button down, collared shirt, a red tie, and a dark gray vest that had a black silk back on it. He hadn't noticed the silk when he had seen Aoba wearing it. As Noiz pulled off his jeans, his bunny-case clad phone fell out of the pocket. Picking it up, he saw that he had gotten a text message.

Swiping the message, Modoki's normal almost gibberish popped up.

 

_Keep an eye out for the native man I showed ya this mornin'. I heard somethin' about a gang named SCRATCH that's run by the man. I think he's a pimp._

 

Noiz typed out a quite affirmative message and pulled on the dress pants, pulling the phone out of the case and slipping it into the back pocket of the pants. As soon as he had finished getting dressed, he tossed his clothes into the bag the uniform had been in and walked out of the changing room.

“Hey.”

Noiz almost jumped at the sound of Aoba's voice. He turned his head and saw that the bluenette had been leaning against the wall directly outside of the changing room. Aoba was already in the matching uniform and had a slight smile on his face.

“Yo,” Noiz managed to bite out. He was trying to force the myriad thoughts (all involving ripping the uniform off of Aoba) out of his head.

Aoba rolled his eyes and pushed off of the wall, coming to stand next to the blonde. “You ready?”

“Sure, but what exactly am I supposed to be looking for?”

Aoba nodded. “I knew you were going to ask that.” He paused for a minute as the two started walking back towards the main area. “Basically, keep an eye out for anything suspicious, but don't ask anyone direct questions. As a bartender, people are going to come to you, drunk off their asses, and spilling their guts to you. Ask simple questions, just enough to get them talking more.” Aoba walked behind the bar as he talked and threw a dish towel at Noiz, and then he started washing some glasses. As soon as he finished washing one, he handed it to Noiz and motioned at the towel, telling him to dry the glass and then pointed to the shelf, where the rest of the glasses were. Then he kept talking. “Be careful of what you ask, though. If someone feels like you're asking something too personal, they'll pull away and stop talking. Your job is to get as much info about the gangs and drug runners as possible without making it seem like you are looking for them.”

Noiz nodded and committed what Aoba said to memory. He wasn't the best talker, but he knew how to get info out of people without it seeming like he meant to.

Once all the glasses were washed, dried, and put away, Aoba handed Noiz a laminated piece of paper.

“This is all of the drink combos that you need to know. Memorize the basic ones first and then after you get those down, you can move onto the harder ones. I'll be behind the bar with you most of the day, so if someone asks for anything extravagant, I'll take over.”

After that, Aoba started explaining where all of the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages were.

It wasn't until about an hour and a half later that Sei walked downstairs and into the main area. He was wearing black cut-off shorts, a black tank-top with a heavy white mesh sweater over it, a black studded fedora, and black combat boots. He also had a black leather, studded choker on. It almost didn't seem like something a guy would wear, but Noiz remembered that this was a gay bar and it had dancers.

“Morning, Sei,” at least seven other people in the room called out. They all seemed to be waiters or dancers.

The black-haired man smiled and waved at them and then sat down on one of the stools at the bar. He stretched his arms out over the bar and put his forehead down on it, his hat falling down onto the floor onto the other side of the bar.. Just as quickly as he had put it down, his head flew back up.

“Ew...you guys didn't wash this off yet, did you?” Sei whined, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.

“No, sorry, Sei,” Aoba laughed as Noiz picked up the fedora and gave it back to the other.

He muttered a thanks, and then looked back at Aoba as the bluenette started to wash the counter off. “Did you tell Koujaku? He gave me a pretty nasty look when I came down here.”

Aoba smiled sadly and nodded. “Yeah, I did. And he's not mad, just worried about you. SCRAP is dangerous, and you shouldn't be using it. I can forgive the other stuff you do, but stay away from SCRAP. Please.”

Sei nodded. “Okay, but I'm worried for Usui...what if they really do go after her?”

Noiz felt a little sorry for Sei. He saw how tired the black-haired man looked, and he could see the worry quite clear in his almost black eyes.

“What hospital is she in?”

Sei blinked and looked at Noiz in shock. “Uh...Midorijima General...why?”

“I know someone who works there. If you want I can have her keep an eye on your sister, and I'll even give you her number so you can check in with her and stuff. It'll probably be safer than having someone from...you know…being there.” Noiz wasn't sure if he should say “the precinct”. But as soon as he had finished his sentence, the light came back to Sei's eyes and he seemed surprised but extremely happy. A big grin formed on the man's face as he nodded quickly.

Noiz grabbed a napkin and a pen. “Her name is Clara, and she's a very trustworthy person. She may seem a little snobby, but that's just her personality. Call her and tell her that I told you to. Explain your situation and she'll do whatever she can to take care of your sister.” After Noiz had written the number down, he slid it across the bar to Sei, who snatched it up and held it to his chest.

“Thank you!” He pulled himself halfway across the bar, grabbing onto either side of Noiz's face and pulling Noiz towards him.

And then he kissed him.

The kiss didn't last any longer than three seconds, and then Sei pulled away and rushed off towards the stairs that led back to the second and third floors, leaving Noiz to stand there in shock. He dropped the pen and blinked, his mouth hanging slightly open.

Aoba, however, was doubled over laughing loudly. “Oh my God,” he gushed out in between laughs. “Your face!”

Koujaku came out of the back room at Aoba's laughter and raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

Noiz turned his head slightly to look at Koujaku and tried to answer, but no sound would come out of his mouth. Aoba laughed again and tried to explain.

“Noiz...gave Sei a number to someone at the hospital who could keep an eye on Usui, and Sei kissed him in thanks, and now I think Noiz is broken.” Then the laughter spilled out again. “But...look at his face!”

Koujaku chuckled a bit and leaned his hip against the bar. “Don't worry, Noiz. That's just what Sei does. He's done it to all of us once or twice. He doesn't know any other way to express gratitude, so don't take it too personally.”

Noiz nodded slightly, still in shock.

_What the hell...just happened…?_

_You just got kissed._

_No shit...but...what…?_

After the shock and the laughter from Aoba subsided, Koujaku walked over to the stairs and yelled for a group of people. It wasn't long before the room was filled with about fifteen people, a mix of dancers, waiters, and bartenders. There was one other bartender other than Noiz and Aoba.

He was shorter than Noiz, and had hair the same color as Koujaku's kimono.

“His name is Beni,” Aoba whispered to Noiz when he noticed how the blonde was staring at the red-head. “He's Koujaku's cousin, and he's one of the other people who know about us being undercover.”

Noiz nodded and whispered back, “Who's the fourth?”

“He's a waiter. He isn't here yet, but you'll know him when you see him. He's really tall, has an eye patch, and this really strange gradient pink hair. Wears native hair beads and stuff. His name is Tori. He's apparently the brother of some pimp around here, but no one knows for sure. He doesn't talk much.”

At the mention of the word, Noiz blinked. Modoki had said something about a pimp earlier that morning and in his text.

_I should probably talk to this Tori guy when I get the chance._

Before Noiz could think anything else, Koujaku hit a metal pillar with his sword.

“Alright, good morning!” Everyone said a scattered greeting back, and then Koujaku continued. “Today, I have a few things to say. Last night, after everyone went home, the bar got trashed. The tables were thrown around, a lot of the bottles behind the bar were smashed, and even a window got broken. I don't know who did it, but if you know anything, don't hesitate to bring it up with me later. I'll be here all day today, and I'll be walking around for a majority of it. Second, there have been reports that our dancers are getting harassed more frequently. I want to know by whom and for what reason. Third, Mizuki is still missing. I know everyone is worried about him, but we are doing everything we can to find him. Now, since he is missing and we are short one bartender, I have hired on someone knew. His name is Noiz, and its his first day today. Show him the ropes, tell him who to watch out for, and generally, don't be an ass to the new guy. Alright, that's it! Everyone, have a good day!”

With that, Koujaku put the sword back on his back and walked through the crowd to the back hallway, where his office probably was. As people walked by, they waved to Noiz, acknowledging that he was there, but didn't say anything. Soon enough, Sei walked back over to the bar and sat in front of where Noiz was standing, giving him a huge smile.

“Thanks again, Noiz. I called Clara and she said that she'd call me if anything happened. Apparently, she had already taken a liking to Usui and was keeping an eye on her.”

“That's great,” Noiz answered, smiling slightly as Sei. He didn't know why, but the man really seemed to bring out Noiz's muted brotherly instincts. His personality was so much like Theo's, it was a little scary.

“Do you want anything to drink, Sei?” Aoba suddenly jumped in. “Noiz needs to learn some of the combos, and I know how much of a heavy-weight drinker you are, so wanna help out? I mean, if you don't have anything else to do.”

Sei shook his head, the fedora threatening to slide off his head again. “My shift doesn't start until six tonight, and I don't have anything else to do other than go see Usui around two, so sure. I can be the tester. I know every drink here by heart.”

And so, for the next few hours, Noiz began to learn all of the drinks, one by one. It only took him one or two tries to get them right. Before they knew it, Noiz had learned all fifty-four drink combos, and people were starting to filter into the bar.

“Isn't it a bit early?” Noiz asked after Sei had gone upstairs to get ready to go see his sister.

“You would think so, but this bar is a bit different,” Aoba explained as he washed the counter again. “From noon to seven, its a regular bar. From eight to about three in the morning, its a gay bar. Koujaku and the other owner decided that to bring in a larger crowd, it should cater to both straight people and gays. There are two different entrances as well. On the left is the normal bar entrance, and to the right is the gay bar entrance.”

Noiz nodded. Now he understood why it was so hard to gather information about this place. Different people said different things, depending on what time you asked them.

As the bar got more and more crowded, Noiz knew that his and Aoba's real work was just about to begin.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beni and Tori (Mink's Allmate, usually) and Clara are all human, and Usui is a real person in this, she looks much like she normally does, but doesn't have all the extra arms xD Modoki literally looks very much like Theo, but has blue eyes and looks a bit older. Also, the time span that Modoki and Noiz were videochatting was around an hour. I know it doesn't seem like that, but thats how long it was. I hope you guys like all the changes I made. And I hope you all enjoy the story. I don't know how long it'll take me to get out another chapter, but be patient xD


	4. In the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How long has it been? Days? Weeks? Who would be able to tell, when you're stuck in the dark?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little filler chapter for you guys, until I can get the next chapter out. Hope you like it. And guess who is in this one?

He had lost track of the exact amount of days he had been in this basement. At least...it seemed like a basement. It was pitch black most of the time, except when _they_ came. If he had to guess...it had been maybe...a week?

Shifting, he tried to stifle a groan. He had at least three broken ribs. His lip was split in three places. Other than that, all the other wounds were bruises and such. Those...he was unable to count those in the dark.

He tried his best to count the hours. There was a clock above him or something that went off once every hour or so. But the few hours he slept, he weren't able to count.

_God, my thoughts are all jumbled…_

Just as he managed to form the words in his head, he heard footsteps above him. Oh, great... _they_ were back. He briefly thought of preparing himself for whatever was to come, but he was too out of it to really do so. Once more, he sifted, wincing at the wave of pain that rolled over him.

He heard the creaking of a door and a sliver of light illuminated what seemed like stairs. Even though it was just a sliver, it was way too bright for his eyes. Just before he closed them, the door was shut again and he heard footsteps coming towards him. They stopped and he could feel the presence of someone standing over him.

His arm was grabbed, and he was wrenched up and thrown into a chair. His arms were pulled behind him and he felt the familiar feel of cold metal being clamped onto his wrists. Handcuffs.

The next thing he felt was a piece of heavy cloth being tied over his eyes. All of this was familiar. Every day, around the same time, this would happen. He was starting to get used to it. _They_ never let him see them. Probably to keep up appearances. He already know who they worked for, even who they were, technically.

“Are you ready to tell us yet?”

While he had been thinking, another person had come down the stairs. The voice that spoke to him was deep.

They always asked the same question. They sure loved consistency.

_Why not give them some more, huh?_

“No way in hell.” His voice was ragged, but he was sure he sounded amused.

“It would be more beneficial not just for you if you told us. What about that kid you seem to be so fond of? Or your partner? Don't you want them to be safe?”

He let out a humorless laugh. “Clear isn't stupid. He won't let himself get caught. And Aoba...he's more capable than even I am. You won't be able to touch either of them.”

He heard the sound of clothes shifting. They were both silent for minute, and then suddenly, the blindfold was ripped off of his eyes, and bright light assaulted his senses. He winced, blinking a few times. When his light-deprived eyes adjusted, the first thing he saw was someone in a full three piece suit, and another person in a vest. As he looked farther up, he saw glasses on one and blonde hair on both.

The one in glasses leaned forward and put a hand on the arm of the chair. The blonde smirked and stared him down.

“Oh, we won't have to touch them to get you to cooperate.”

The one in glasses stepped back and a fist was suddenly in his gut, forcing a grunt from his throat. Coughing, he looked up at them both.

“Don't you fucking go near them...”

The one in glasses chuckled and crossed his arms, the other throwing a punch to his jaw. He spat some blood on the floor.

“What makes you think that we haven't already?” the one in glasses said.

Looking up at them with fire in his eyes, he said, “If I ever get out of here...I'm going to kill you. And no matter what you do, I'm not telling you shit.”

Another chuckle, but this time from both of them.

“Oh, Mizuki...what makes you think you have a choice?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Totally didn't mean to put them in this chapter, but oh well. I was gonna add them in eventually. Woot.


	5. Assault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noiz and Aoba make a shocking discovery at poor Sei's expense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to have this out...there will be another chapter out soon, hopefully. This next one will be fun ^.^ Hope you guys enjoy!

When the time to switch Platinum Jail over to a gay bar rolled around, Noiz was already exhausted.

“Hey, newbie, go take the sign down and put the other one up.”

Noiz turned at the voice and saw that it was Beni, the red-headed cousin of Koujaku. Noiz had realized that Beni was a loudmouth and was full of hot air, but he was a trustworthy kid. The only thing that ruined it for the blonde was how annoying the kid was.

“Hey! Are you listening!?”

Noiz rolled his eyes. “Shut up, I got it. I'm going.”

Beni stuck his tongue out as Noiz turned his back. The sign he was talking about was in the closet next to the doors, and the damn thing was heavy.

Opening the door, Noiz saw that the sign was at an awkward angle, which meant that it was be even harder to get out of the closet. After about two minutes of wresting with the thing, Noiz was finally able to set it on the floor outside of the closet.

_Fucking finally...why the hell do I have to do this kinda shit right now…?_

He knew the reason, but it annoyed him all the same. He had only become a cop because it was what his father had pushed on him. He wouldn't lie. He did enjoy it, but this kind of thing isn't what he signed up for. Even working at a desk all day would be better. He didn't even feel like he was doing his job.

Noiz understood that in order to find out who the kingpin was, and to figure out where Mizuki was, he had to help Aoba keep up his cover. Although, he didn't even know who Mizuki was, so why was it his problem?

Thinking about this, Noiz picked up the sign again (it was still fucking heavy) and started to walk with it outside. Struggling a bit, he managed to switch the signs out.

He was about to walk back into the bar when he saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. Looking in the direction he thought he had seen it, Noiz scanned the area. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he had a strange feeling that he something was about to happen.

Noiz glanced back at the bar, thinking he should probably tell someone, but he decided against it. He didn't want to drag anyone else into this if it went how he thought it was going to go. Letting out a breath, the blonde started walking towards the back of the bar. He was sure that that was where the red flash was going.

As he rounded the corner, he saw the red thing that had caught his attention. It was a jacket. It was lying on the ground, its owner no where to be found. As he drew closer to it, he vaguely recognized it.

Where had he seen this jacket before?

Picking it up, Noiz thought about it. He stuck his hand into the pocket to see if maybe its owner had left some kind of identification in the jacket. He wasn't able to find anything. Not long after, he heard a noise to his right. Looking over, he saw that there was a shed of some kind. It was probably for maintenance purposes.

Just as he was about to make his way over to the shed, Noiz paused. This wasn't any of his business. It was probably just an employee going to grab something. It might even have been some kind of animal, but it really _wasn't any of his business._

But as he looking down at the jacket, he had a bad feeling. Noiz knew that he had seen this jacket before, but he just couldn't place why or where. If his intuition was correct, and more often than not it was, this was not going to end well.

Tucking the jacket under his arm, Noiz took a breath. He put his left hand to the small of his back, where he had successfully managed to conceal his pistol. Well, it was now or never. Taking slow and silent steps, Noiz made his way over to the shed. The noise he heard earlier was still being made. As he drew closer, he thought he heard a muffled voice, but that could have been anything at this point.

When he got to the door of the shed, he paused. Setting down the jacket, which was still gnawing at him from the back of his mind, Noiz withdrew the pistol from the back of his waistband. He crouched low, trying to hide his presence as much as he could. The door to the shed was partially opened, which worked to his advantage.

He peeked into the shed but from his vantage point, he couldn't see anything. Instead, he decided to stand still and listen to see if he could identify what was in there. For a few seconds, there was nothing. Whatever was in there might have noticed that he was there. However, he wasn't leaving. He might as well finish was he stared.

After about fifteen seconds, the noise started again. It sounded mostly like whispering to Noiz's ears, but he inched closer, hoping to catch something.

He moved to the other side of the doorway, and from this vantage point, he was able to see more into the shed.

Noiz was _not_ prepared for what he saw.

Being held against a wall, was Sei. His dark eyes were wide with fear as the person took a grip on his throat, tightening it every few seconds and then releasing.

“Apparently, someone wants you out of the picture,” the other growled, causing Sei to emit a small whimper. “You know, I've heard that that native has taken quite a liking to you, lately. He even keeps most of the dealers away from you. Did you know that?”

Sei nodded quickly. “Y-yes, I kn-know.”

“The person who hired me says that someone like you has no right to be with that native. But how crazy is that? He's a fucking native, he don't belong here. Then again, neither do you.”

“I d-don't know w-what you m-mean...” Sei almost sobbed. The grip on his throat was becoming tighter, but this time the guy had no intention of letting go. Noiz knew that he had to do something soon, but what was this guy talking about? Native? The word reminded him of the picture that Modoki had shown him.

“Oh, I'm sure you do, but that's none of my concern. I'm only here to give you a warning. Stay away from him.” The other man pulled Sei back and then slammed him against the wall, his head making a sickening thunk. Before Noiz could react, the other man had pulled his fist back and punched Sei in the cheek, causing the dark-haired man to emit another whimper, this time louder. He dropped Sei to the ground and punched him in the gut and was gearing up for another hit.

That was it. Noiz stood and kicked open the door, training his sights on the thug in front of him.

“Midorijima PD!”

The man took a step back and whirled around, the look of panic making his eyes wide. Noiz walked into the shed, keeping his gun trained on the guy. He now had his hands raised and was glaring menacingly at Noiz.

“You don't look like no cop.”

“Shut it.”

Noiz drew closer and motioned for the guy to turn around. It didn't take long for Noiz to slap the cuffs on the guy. He shoved him down in the corner of the shed. Keeping an eye on the guy, Noiz crouched down in front of Sei.

“You alright?” he asked the dark-haired man, helping him sit up.

Sei nodded, but Noiz knew that he was anything but okay. Every few seconds, a shudder ripped through him, causing a whimper.

Noiz took his phone out of his front pocket and went through his contacts until he found Aoba's number. He didn't want to drag both the guy and Sei out of the shed when people were just starting to filter in to the bar. That would definitely be something big enough to break their cover.

After a few rings, Aoba's voice came through the phone. “Noiz? What's going on? Where did you go?” Noiz heard glasses clinking in the background. Aoba was probably at the bar counter.

“I'm in the shed behind the bar. Sei got jumped and I've got the guy in cuffs out here.”

“Sei!? Is he okay!?” Aoba's voice was started to get shatteringly high pitched.

“For now. Can you call it in and then get out here? I can't bring them out by myself.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Hold on.”

“Got it.”

Noiz hung up and shoved the phone back into his pocket. He had watched the guy the entire time, but he made no move to try and escape; he just glared down at the floor. He probably felt stupid for getting caught. Either that, or he was trained to not speak when in the presence of a cop.

“Stay put,” Noiz grunted at the both of them, walking backwards to the door so he could grab the jacket from where he had left it. It was Sei's jacket. He now knew why the thing had made such a fuss in the back of his head. Sei had been wearing it earlier that day when Noiz and Aoba had first gotten to Platinum Jail. He should have noticed it earlier, but something as simple as that had never crossed Noiz's mind.

Bringing the jacket back to Sei, he saw that the dark-haired man had curled himself into a ball. His shoulders were shaking, and Noiz had a feeling that he was trying not to cry. The blonde placed the jacket on Sei's shoulders. Noiz knew that Sei was probably freezing. Winter was just starting to peek around the corner, so it was starting to get rather cold outside.

Keeping an eye on the handcuffed man, Noiz sat down next to Sei to wait for Aoba. Noiz was never one to comfort someone. He had never felt comfort before, so he wasn't sure how to go about it. He knew that in times like these, you were supposed to say that everything would be alright, but that seemed like utter bullshit to Noiz. How could you know if everything would be fine? There was no way of knowing, so telling someone something like that was basically lying to them.

That was another thing that Noiz didn't understand. What's the point of lying to someone? Its not like they won't figure it out eventually, so why prolong the process? It seemed like too much trouble, and trouble was something Noiz loathed.

“Sei!?”

Noiz looked up to see Aoba in all his blue-haired glory, panting in the doorway to the shed. His hair was starting to fall from the ponytail it resided in, showing that the man had been in quite a frenzy trying to call in the assault. His eyes were wide with panic, and as soon as he said his name, Sei darted through the shed to get to Aoba.

For such weak looking man, when Sei ran fast enough, he could knock over anything. He almost did so to Aoba, but the bluenette had managed to stay on his feet. Sei clung to Aoba's chest and cried.

Looking of Sei's head, Aoba locked eyes with Noiz.

“Thank you, Noiz.”

Noiz nodded, not expecting to be thanked. Aoba seemed rather nasty to him lately.

_And who's fucking fault is that…? No one but your own._

Noiz pushed his inner voice away as he stood up, stepping over to the handcuffed man. He hadn't moved and seemed to be rather out of it. He probably was kicking himself for getting caught.

“Did you call it in?” Noiz asked, knowing full well that he did.

“Yeah, they should be here any minute now,” Aoba answered, running a hand over Sei's hair, trying to calm him. “I told them to not bring a squad car since it would arouse suspicions.”

“Probably a good idea.”

Aoba looked at Sei and whispered, “Hey, Sei? How about you go back up to your room? Once Noiz and I get this dick outta here, we'll come up and check on you. Tell Koujaku that I said it was okay.”

Sei sniffled, but nodded. The jacket had flown off his shoulders when he had run over to Aoba, so Noiz picked it up and brought it over. He gratefully put the mass of puff on and retreated towards the bar.

As soon as he had disappeared inside, Aoba stepped into the shed and crossed his arms. When Noiz looked at him, he saw that the bluenette had a deep frown on his face and was glaring at the handcuffed man.

“How could he have gotten to Sei? Wasn't Sei supposed to be working?”

“I don't know for sure, so we would have to ask him,” Noiz replied, mussing his hair. This turning out to be a long day. “As for the guy himself, I haven't talked to him yet, so I don't really know what he came here for.”

“It was probably the fact that Sei had said no to his dealer's lackey a few times.”

Noiz shook his head. What he had heard of the conversation, there was no mention of a drug dealer. “I don't think so,” said Noiz, after pausing for a moment. “Someone hired the guy to give Sei a warning.”

Aoba turned his gaze to Noiz and gave the blonde a confused look, one eyebrow hitched. “Warning? What kind of warning?”

“To stay away from someone.”

Aoba looked back at the handcuffed man. He hadn't even twitched. He had probably given up any thought of escaping at this point. “Stay away from who?”

Noiz shrugged. “I didn't hear much of the conversation, but he did say something about a native. You know any one like that?”

At the mention of the word “native” Aoba's eyes grew wide. “I only know of one native around here, and he's not the kind of person I would want Sei mixed in with.”

“Why?”

“He's a pimp.”

And that cinched it. Both Modoki and the handcuffed man had mentioned the same person.

“I think we should look into it,” Noiz intoned, the corners of his mouth twitching into a small smile.

“Why?” Aoba asked, repeating Noiz's question. “I mean, yeah, we really should, but why do you think so?”

“You know that person that sent me some info about the gangs in this area?” Aoba nodded. “He told me that that pimp might know something about the kingpin.” At the last sentence, Noiz dropped his voice to a mutter so the handcuffed man wouldn't hear him. The blonde didn't think that he was listening, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Aoba nodded. Noiz knew that he wasn't one to shrug off a lead. And at this point, it was the only lead they had.

Not long after, two more detectives arrived at the shed. One of them, Noiz recognized as the girl from his first week of work that wouldn't leave him along (the one who showed a little too much tit for his liking), but the other was new. He looked older, probably in his fifties, and he had a mole on his face. Noiz had never seen him before.

“Hey, Seragaki, where's the guy?” the girl said, pushing past the two and walking into the shed. Noiz vaguely remembered that her name was Tsubaki.

“In there in the corner. He hasn't moved since Noiz cuffed him.”

Tsubaki nodded and walked over to the handcuffed man. The other detective stopped in front of Noiz and held out his hand. “Detective Haga. Nice to meet you. I've seen you around the precinct lately. How's it been, being Seragaki's partner and all? Is he a handful yet?” Noiz shook the man's hand, but said nothing.

Haga nodded but kept the smile on his face. He probably understood that Noiz didn't want to talk.

“Haga, help me out.”

The older man grunted and walked over to where Tsubaki was trying to get the handcuffed man to stand. She seemed to be having some issues, and the man looked like he was comatose. Shock probably.

“The Chief wants both of you to ask Sei some questions and then head back to the precinct. He's got some new orders for you once you get back.”

Both Aoba and Noiz nodded at Tsubaki's words and watched as the two detectives pulled the handcuffed man through the door of the shed and over to the car that was waiting for them.

“Also, Noiz,” Tsubaki said, looking at the blonde over her shoulder. “Good job. Keep it up.”

Noiz nodded again. Praise. Yeah...that was something he wasn't used to. However, he didn't let it phase him. Didn't want to show any kind of reaction.

As soon as the two detectives and the handcuffed man were gone, Aoba staggered.

Noiz slipped an arm around the bluenette's waist to steady him.

“You okay?”

Aoba nodded and straightened, but kept a hand on Noiz's shoulder. “Yeah...just...adrenaline is starting to fade.”

Noiz drew up an eyebrow. Aoba's situation was probably worse because he had ties to Sei and cared about him. Something Noiz had never felt.

“Wanna go talk to Sei now?” Aoba said, sighing. He knew that Noiz wasn't one to say much about worry, but it was comforting to know that there was _someone_ there with him right now.

The blonde nodded and the two made there way back into the bar, trudging up the stairs that led to the second floor and to the apartments where the dancers and waiters lived. Aoba led him down two or three different hallways until he stopped in front of a door that had a picture of Sei and a girl with long, pale blue hair.

_That must be his sister, the one in the hospital._

Aoba lightly knocked on the door. It was already slightly open, but he didn't want to startle Sei.

“Come in!” Sei's voice flowed out the door. It sounded hoarse from crying, but stable all the same. Noiz pushed open the door, allowing Aoba to step into the room before him. Once they had both entered, Noiz shut the door behind them. It was a heavy oaken door, but that in itself seemed strange. All the other doors had been made of a light kind of wood. Why would Sei's room have the only heavy door?

“Koujaku had it installed for Sei's benefit. Sei had been attacked before, and once it had even happened in his own room, so Koujaku thought that Sei would feel better if he had a heavier door.”

Noiz nodded. Aoba must have noticed Noiz's curious gaze. As they stood in the entry way, Noiz realized that the room they were in was only one of three: a central living area, a bedroom, and a small bathroom that was next to the door to the bedroom. It was bigger than Noiz's one room, studio apartment, and had a very homey feeling to it. It was filled with knick-knacks, books, pictures, and the general clutter of a single man's room. However, just like Aoba's, it was rather clean for someone who lived alone. The walls were painted a light tan, giving off an eternal feeling of autumn.

“I'll be right out!”

Sei's voice had come from the direction of the bedroom, where Noiz could hear him rustling around.

“Take all the time you need!” Aoba called, tugging on Noiz's sleeve to get him to walk farther into the room. There was a small couch in the center of the room that was facing the corner of the room where a medium sized television rested. There was a sliding glass door that probably led out to a veranda.

Aoba motioned for Noiz to sit on the couch, instead the blonde chose to lean against the wall closest to the door. He was not the best in new environments. He watched Aoba as the bluenette walked over to the sink and filled a coffee pot with water. He then brought the pot over to a coffee machine. After that, Noiz stopped watching an instead looked towards Sei's bedroom. The rustling was still going on, but it seemed like the dark-haired man was almost ready to come out of the room.

His hunch was correct when the door flew open and Sei walked out. He was now wearing a pair of drawstring sweatpants and an oversized hoodie. An _extremely_ oversized sweater. Noiz couldn't imagine Sei going into a store to buy a sweater that big.

“Sorry it took so long. I was on the phone with someone and it took longer than I expected.”

Both Noiz and Aoba shook their heads. “That's fine,” Noiz said. He was starting to smell the coffee Aoba's was making. “Make sure you feel up to it before we start, okay?”

Sei blinked but nodded. He had his bangs bobby-pinned to the top of his head, and the nod dislodged a few dark strands. He made his way over to the only chair in the room, a comfy looking almost recliner. He pulled one knee up to his chest and rested his cheek on his knee.

“I'm ready whenever you guys are.”

Aoba smiled and answered, “Let me finish the coffee and then we can start. Do you have a notebook and a pen we can use? I don't have mine with me at the moment.”

Sei nodded. “Yeah, in the drawer over there.” He was about to get out of his chair but Noiz held out a hand. He could get it himself. Sei seemed grateful for it. The dark-haired man was probably still shaken by the event.

It took a few more minutes, but as soon as the coffee was done, Aoba poured three cups for them. Noiz grabbed one for Sei, and Aoba brought the other two over for themselves. Noiz handed the cup to Sei, who accepted it gratefully. He wrapped both hands around the cup, savoring the warmth.

As soon as the three of them were settled in, Aoba took the notebook and pen from where Noiz had rested it on the coffee table.

“Okay, Sei, we have to talk to you about what happened.”

Sei nodded, letting out a breath. “Yeah, I know. What do you want to know?”

Noiz knew that Aoba would probably take control of the questioning since he knew more about Sei than he did. However, Noiz was completely okay with that.

“First,” Aoba said, jotting something down in the notebook, “Tell me why you went out to the shed.”

Sei nodded again, looking down into his coffee cup.

“I went outside to call Clara again, because she told me to check in once I got back from visiting Usui. But as soon as the door shut behind me, I was grabbed and dragged to the shed.”

“Did you recognize the person who grabbed you?”

Sei thought for a minute. “No, not really. I'd never seen him before.”

Aoba nodded and wrote down a few notes. When he was done, he tucked some of his blue hair behind his ear and looked back up at Sei.

“This question might be a little difficult. I need you to tell me who and what the man was talking about while you were in the shed with him. More specifically, this native that was mentioned.”

Sei blinked. He probably had no idea that Noiz had heard the entire conversation. “Native? A-are you sure that's what he said?”

“Positive,” Noiz chimed in, since he had been the one to hear it.

Sei looked between the two, a look of light panic darkening his already dark eyes. He opened his mouth a few times, but didn't say anything. Aoba probably knew that this part of the questioning was not going to be easy.

After a few minutes, Sei let out a pained breath. “Okay...I've been...seeing a certain person for a few months now.” He paused, letting it sink in the type of _seeing_ he meant. “It was never meant to go any further than just...casual sex, but...I don't know...we ended up kind of...bonding? So in that time, he had learned about my drug addiction and he's the one who has been helping me get clean. He had managed to get all of the dealers to stay away from me, except for the one that have been dealing SCRAP. They don't just deal SCRAP, though. I've been getting my other stuff from them for a while, and they just started trying to push it on me.”

“Sei, you're getting a little off topic,” Aoba said, gently. “While we do want to know more about those dealer's, what we are focusing on right now is on that person you mentioned. We have a lead that he might know something about the kingpin we're looking for, so we would like to know about your person so we can follow up on that lead.”

Sei nodded, the panic coming back to his eyes. “Sorry, I know...but you aren't going to...get him in any trouble, are you?”

Aoba shook his head. “We won't do anything unless he gives us a reason to.”

Sei let out a breath and the panic left his eyes. “Alright...thank you. What do you want to know?”

Aoba looked at Noiz. The blonde could tell that it was his turn to ask. He sighed and set down his empty coffee cop. He drank rather quickly.

“We want to know who he is, where and how to find him, and if you know of any connection he may have to the kingpin.”

Sei nodded and closed his eyes, seemingly trying to remember if anything stood out to him.

“I don't know where to find him, since he usually comes to me, but if you ask Tori, he might know.”

Tori…? Wasn't that the pink-haired guy with the eyepatch?

“Why would Tori know?”

“They started out in the same group together, apparently. That's how I met him, because he was with Tori here once.”

Aoba nodded and also wrote that down. “Is there anything else that you can tell us about this person?”

Sei looked down into his coffee cup again, the ripples from his slight shivering being reflected in his dark eyes. “There's one thing I want you guys to know before I tell you the rest.”

He paused, and glanced up at the other two, who each nodded.

“He is _not_ a bad person. He has protected me and cared for me in ways that you couldn't believe. He seems very harsh when you first meet him, but he's got a gentle heart and never wishes ill on others. He's had a hard life, harder than most...and all I want is to be able to make him happy.”

When he was done, Sei looked up at Noiz and Aoba with tears in his eyes. Considering Sei's reaction to what he had said, Noiz could tell that the dark-haired man really was in love with this person. Noiz didn't understand love, affection, or comfort. However, if someone could be happy with those things that Noiz would never quite understand, then it was not his place to doubt them.

Noiz leaned forward and resting his elbows on his thighs, threading his fingers together.

“Sei,” the blonde said, quietly. “I will do whatever I can to figure out who did this to you, and to make sure that your person doesn't get involved, but I can only do so much. He may get involved more than we expect, so you have to be prepared for that.”

Noiz could feel Aoba's shocked gaze on him. It was burning into him. He wasn't quite sure why he said what he said, but this man reminded him so much of his brother that it was hard to keep the two apart in his mind.

“O-okay...” Sei whispered. “Thank you.” Noiz nodded and Sei swallowed.

“This person...he's the leader of a gang, but he also just happens to be...a pimp.” At the last word, Sei let out a shaky breath. Aoba and Noiz had already known this part, but they didn't want Sei to know that, so they kept their gazes steady. When Sei noticed that the two were staring at him, he held up his hands and shook his head. “B-but don't worry! He would never let me get involved with that part of his work. And since we've been together, he's given up all his other lovers. I mean there weren't that many of them to begin with...he only had two others at the time, but he broke it off with them as soon as we got together.”

He continued to babble, thinking that the other two were mad at him, but as smiles slowly crept onto their faces as they glanced at each other, the babble turned to mumbles and then silence.

“W-what's the matter…?” Sei muttered, pulling his close to his chest and narrowing his eyes at them.

Aoba shook his head. “Its nothing, don't worry. And we believe you. Thank you, Sei. We don't have to ask anything else right now.” Aoba stood, which meant that Noiz was meant to follow suit. Sei looked up at them as Aoba walked to him and leaned down to give the dark-haired man a hug. “We have to head back to the precinct now, but make sure to eat enough tonight and check in with Koujaku when you can. I'm sure he's worried about you. If you start to feel hurt anywhere serious, let me know and I'll bring you down to the hospital.”

Sei nodded as he hugged Aoba back, but he looked rather confused. Noiz guessed that he probably suspected the two to get mad at him when he told them that his boyfriend was a pimp. Of course, they already knew that, so there was no reason to get angry. It was just a strange development that they were together.

The two detectives turned around to walk out of Sei's room when Sei stood up and called out, “Um, Aoba?”

The bluenette turned to look over his shoulder. “Yeah?”

“His name is Mink...by the way.”

Aoba smiled. “Thanks.”

As the door slammed shut behind them, Noiz took a breath and looked at his partner.

“Mink, huh?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“Apparently so.”

“Ready to get going?”

“Mhm,” Aoba murmured, shoving the paper with the notes in his back pocket. “I'll get the car ready, you go grab our stuff.”

“Got it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gah I hated writing that part about Sei getting attacked...it makes me so mad to see him hurt, but it had to be done...gah my poor baby.... T.T


	6. Rememberance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The blonde closed his eyes, forcing all thoughts of his past to the back of his mind and focused on the one thing that seemed to bring him any sense of stability. He whispered the name to the empty room.
> 
> “Aoba...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That wasn't a good summary. But I suck at them. I thought we covered that already -___-

“Seragaki! Noiz!”

The two partners turned around to see Akushima rushing towards them. There was a vein beginning to pop out of his temple, but they could tell that it wasn't from anger; it was more from stress.

“What took you guys so long?!” He stopped in front of them and crossed his arms.

It had taken them longer to get to the precinct than they had hoped, and they were about to pay for it.

“Sorry, sir,” Aoba said, holding his hands together. “It's rush hour and all that, and there was way too much traffic. Plus, it took longer than expected to talk to Sei.”

At the mention of Sei, the vein disappeared and Akushima's posture seemed to relax a bit. “By the way, how is he?”

Aoba was about to speak, but Noiz felt like he should, so speaking up he said, “He's fine for now, but he seemed pretty shaken.” Noiz ran and through his hair, making part of it stick up. It really had been a long day. All he wanted to do was go home. “He had never seen the guy before, but we did find out that the reason he went after Sei was because he was paid to. If we follow up on that, we might learn more.”

At that moment, Aoba added, “We also learned about someone who may have a connection to the kingpin.”

Akushima's attention flew to Aoba and stared at him. “Are you sure?”

“Not positive,” Noiz interjected. “But he was mentioned when the guy attacked Sei. I heard it with my own ears.”

Akushima nodded. “Alright, well, let's go into my office and we can talk about it there.” He looked around the room for a moment. “We seem to be blocking the path most of them take.” He jerked his chin towards the other officers.

Both Aoba and Noiz nodded and followed Akushima, who had begun to walk into the office. When they were all seated, he looked at the both of them and entwined his fingers as he rested his elbows on his desk.

“Alright, start talking.”

For the next few minutes, Noiz recounted the events of the day, with Aoba adding in little bits when he could. By the time they had finished talking, the vein had resurfaced on Akushima's temple. That was the only reaction that was visible.

After a few seconds, Akushima let out a breath. “Are you sure that's all you heard, Noiz? Nothing else? No specific details?”

“None, sir.”

Akushima nodded. “Alright. There isn't much you can do about stuff you weren't there for. Did Sei say anything about what the guy said to him?”

“According to Sei,” Aoba said, crossing his arms, “Noiz found them only a few seconds after Sei had been dragged in there, so there wasn't anything else.”

Again, Akushima nodded.

“So Sei is okay, for now?” The two nodded. “You said that you have someone who can keep an eye on him...that's the club's owner, right?” Another nod. “Alright, so that's taken care of.” The Chief of Police stood up and walked around his desk to walk to the door to his office. Opening the door, he called out, “Which one of you has the report from the interrogation of Kenshi Mastutomo?”

“I do, sir!” someone called back. When the person walked towards the door, Noiz and Aoba saw that is was Tsubaki. She handed a folder to Akushima and then turned on her heel and walked away. Akushima closed the door and walked back to his desk.

Sitting down, he opened the folder and flipped through it for a second. When he seemed satisfied, he looked up at Noiz and Aoba.

“It seems what you said matches up with what this guy told us. However, he didn't say much.”

“You already interrogated him?” Aoba asked, a little confused. “That quickly? You guys didn't even know much about the event.”

“Didn't need to,” Akushima answered, looking down at the folder again. “When you called it in, you said someone was getting assaulted. That's an arrestable offense. Plus, because of your undercover work, he is involved with the investigation now since he assaulted an employee of Platinum Jail.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Aoba muttered, casting his amber eyes down. Noiz wondered if he felt like he had been scolded.

“During the interrogation,” Akushima began after a moment, without looking up, “the guy was mostly silent. He didn't say more than that he was _hired_ to go after Sei, just like you said. We don't know who he is, but we do know _where_ this guy is operating from.”

Noiz and Aoba stared at Akushima in slight shock.

“And where would that be?” Noiz wondered, crossing his arms.

“There is a hotel downtown called the Rhyme Hotel. It's a fairly expensive hotel,” Akushima explained, grabbing a Post-It and writing something down on it. “From what the guy told us, he got a call from where he works as a bouncer and was told to go to this address, that there was someone there with a job for him. If he did his job right, he would be paid handsomely for it. Obviously, that didn't work.”

“Is that all he said?” Aoba inquired, stifling a yawn. Apparently, he was just as tired as Noiz was.

“The only other thing he said is that he would take the jail time, since he'd be safer in jail.”

Noiz and Aoba exchanged a glance. Safer? What could he possibly be scared of that would force him into taking jail instead? It seemed...odd, to say the least.

There was silence for a few seconds, while Akushima wrote down a few other things on the note. As soon as he was done, he stuck it on one of the papers in the folder and slid it across the desk to Aoba.

“Now, do you know anything at all about the person who might be involved with the kingpin?”

He was looking straight at Noiz, knowing that the blonde was the one with the information gathering skills.

“Not much, but from what Sei told us, he's a pimp.” Akushima's eyebrow raised, but that was the only reaction. “He's also a native. And...he and Sei are dating.”

Akushima's eyes widened as he said, “Wait, what now?”

“Sei is dating the native,” Noiz repeated. He fully expected this reaction. Even Noiz was surprised when Sei had mentioned it. Being gay wasn't an issue of course, but Noiz never expected it from Sei. However, the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He did work at a gay bar.

“Well...that complicates things,” Akushima muttered, rubbing his temple where the vein usually popped out. He sighed and then continued, “Oh, well, did Sei mention where we could find said native?”

“Sei doesn't know. Apparently, the native usually comes to him. The only person who might know is Tori, a waiter at Platinum Jail,” Aoba explained. He was looking through the folder, probably memorizing some stuff. “Apparently, Tori and the native started out in the same group.”

“Oh, right,” Noiz said, “Aoba.” The bluenette looked up at him, cocking an eyebrow. “Where's the paper with the stuff you wrote down.”

Aoba blinked and then shifted to his side to pull the paper out of his back pocket. He handed it to the blonde, who unfolded it and looked over the notes. “Why didyou wanna know?”

“Something Sei said while we were talking to him. I was wondering if you had written it down,” Noiz explained, brows knitted and he tried to read Aoba's atrocious handwriting. He paused and turned the paper to Aoba, pointing at one word. “Is this can't or ain't?”

“Can't...”

“Thanks,” Noiz muttered, going back to the paper. “Ah, there it is. I thought so.” Noiz looked up and continued, “This native is also the leader of a gang. We should be able to find him if we figure out what gang he leads. It shouldn't be too hard considering he's one of the only natives we know of.”

Akushima nodded. “Alright.” He paused and then said, “Noiz, get one of your contacts to look into it. And I would like the both of you to try and find this native, if you can.”

Noiz and Aoba nodded and were about to stand, thinking their orders were given. However, Akushima made a noise, and they sat back down again, confused.

“We're not done?” the bluenette asked, running a hand through his hair. He was obviously exhausted. He probably just wanted to go home and sleep.

“No. I have something else for you two to do.”

“What would that be?” Noiz asked, sighing and leaning back in his chair. He could feel the stiffness in his limbs that accompanied the need for sleep. He hadn't felt it this bad in a while, since his lack of senses didn't allow it most of the time.

“Stakeout.”

“What?” Noiz and Aoba groaned in unison. A stakeout just wasn't a good idea right then. With how tired the both of them were, it would be impossible to sit in a car for hours and watch a single building.

“This is your guys' case. I wouldn't give this responsibility to anyone else since you guys know the most about this case,” Akushima explained, rubbing his temple again. His eyes looked just as tired as the other two felt. “I want you to go to the address I gave you and check out the hotel. We do have a description of the employer, and I’ll get a sketch artist in here to help out.” He paused and opened a drawer on his side of the desk. “These are keys to a rental car that I got for you guys. They might know what your car looks like, Seragaki, so take this instead.” He held out the keys to Aoba, who took them reluctantly. Akushima then looked at the clock on his desk and continued, “Its about six o'clock now. You two should head home and get some rest and then head back here around...nine-ish?”

The two of them sighed. A long day was turning into a long night, too. However, stakeouts cam with the job of being a cop. There wasn't much they could do, and they couldn't just tell Akushima no. That wouldn't end well.

“All right,” Noiz agreed, sighing once more. He was really going to regret this in the morning. “I'll do it. On one condition.”

Akushima raised an eyebrow, as if to say that Noiz could continue.

Noiz glanced over at Aoba and continued, “My condition is that Aoba and I get tomorrow off.”

Akushima crossed his arms as he leaned back in his chair. He seemed to mull it over for a moment, and then he shrugged. “Seems fair. As long as you pick up some overtime later on.”

Noiz fully looked at Aoba. The bluenette was looking at the blonde in slight shock. He probably wasn't prepared for the amount of...concern (?) that Noiz was showing him. Noiz was kind of shocked by it, too. Here he was, meaning to avoid Aoba as much as possible, and instead, he was helping him.

It wasn't for a few more seconds that Noiz realized that both Akushima and Aoba were staring at him. What? Was he supposed to say something?

His confusion must have been showing on his face because the two of them just sighed and rolled their eyes.

Aoba stood up and said, “I'm gonna head home for a shower and a nap.” He turned to Noiz and continued, “You should head home, too. I'll meet you back here at nine. Don't be late.”

Noiz nodded and the bluenette waved to Akushima. Without another word, Aoba retreated from the office and turned a corner, leaving Noiz and Akushima alone. Neither of them said a thing for a minute or two. The silence stretched on for what seemed like an eternity.

“Your father called.”

Noiz's head whipped around to throw an angry look at Akushima. “What?”

The Chief of Police sighed and uncrossed his arms to scratch the back of his head. “Your father called me today and asked how you were doing. Apparently, you haven't been taking his calls and he's worried.”

Noiz scoffed and turned around again. “There's no way that bastard would be worried about me.”

“Why wouldn't he? You're his son.”

“We both know the answer to that, now don't we?” Noiz muttered to himself in disdain. Of course Akushima knew what Noiz's father had done to him all those years. However, he had never mentioned it or tried to stop it at all.

“Is this all because he chose Theo over you?”

“Not in the least. I'm happy for Theo. He was much more capable at those kinds of things than I ever was. He was meant for that job. The reason I refuse to speak to my _father_ has nothing to do with Theo. And you know that.”

“I tried to stop it, you know.”

Noiz turned to look at Akushima with a sarcastic expression. “Oh, sure. I guess that's why he kept beating me, huh?”

“Fucking hell, Noiz!” Akushima yelled, slamming his hands on the desk as he stood up. “I admit it, I could have tried harder. I didn't want to see that happening to you, but what was I supposed to do? Call the cops? You know he would have already paid them off. If I would have been able to, I would have taken you the second I found out that he had shut you in that room. But I had no way to help you. I was useless.”

Noiz blinked. What the hell was going on? Akushima was being caring and considerate? What the fuck? Why? Noiz tried several times to say something, but he was at a loss.

“You...you knew about the room?” Noiz whispered. He hated to admit it, but his voice wavered. Just thinking about that darkness made his vision blur. He knew that Akushima had realized that Noiz's father had been beating him, but he had no idea that Akushima knew about the room.

“Of course, I did. I'm not stupid,” Akushima bit out, sitting back down. He had a sad look in his eyes. Well, that was something Noiz never expected to see. “It wasn't that hard to figure out,” Akushima continued. “You stopped showing up randomly; you wouldn't answer anyone if they called you. Whenever I asked to see how you were, someone would tell me that you were in your room and didn't want to be disturbed. But the one time they let me up there, you weren't in your room. It didn't make sense, so I asked your mother.”

“My mom?”

“Yep. She told me everything. She didn't seem too concerned. Actually, she seemed to agree with what your father was doing. So, there was nothing I could do.”

Noiz lowered his eyes. He was so confused and disoriented. Exhaustion was starting to creep up on him. “I...I'm gonna go home. See you later.”

Noiz turned on his heel and booked it out of the office.

“Make sure to be here by nine!”

Noiz didn't turn around at the voice. He didn't want to, and he didn't need to be reminded. He didn't want to be here at the moment. All he wanted to do was go home and sleep.

As the blonde made his way home, he sent a message to Modoki to check up on the things Akushima told him about. He didn't answer, but Noiz knew he had gotten the message. As soon as Noiz made it to his apartment, he threw himself on his bed. This day was just too long, and it wasn't even over yet.

No one outside of his family should have known about the abuse. Theo didn't even know. Noiz's younger brother was too small to remember something like that.

_I guess it was around that time that I started to not feel anything._

That's right...Noiz's condition was a self-imposed one. Sometimes he forgot about that. He could always turn that sensation back on if he wanted to, couldn't he? Even if he _did_ want to, how would he do it? He had no idea. But if he started to feel again, how would that affect everyone around him. Negatively, most likely. There was no point in even thinking about it. There was no way Noiz was ever going to feel again. That was it. He would live like this for however long he could.

“Fucking hell. What have I gotten myself into?”

Throwing an arm over his eyes, Noiz tried to force himself to sleep. If he kept letting his mind wander in circles like this, he would never make it through the stakeout. Fuck, that's right. The stakeout. He had to get information about that place.

_Oh, well. I can do it later._

The blonde closed his eyes, forcing all thoughts of his past to the back of his mind and focused on the one thing that seemed to bring him any sense of stability. He whispered the name to the empty room.

“Aoba...”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was going to be longer. And it was going to contain smut, but I decided to leave that to the next chapter, because I just wanted to get something posted before you guys thought I stopped existing. I,hopefully, will have to next chapter up within a week or two, but I'm not making any promises. This chapter was pretty...bleh so I hope it doesn't bore you guys too much. Gah, enjoy.


	7. Renewed Conviction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, everyone!! But here is the newest chapter of Case #1. My writer's block is finally gone, so I should hopefully have another chapter within a week...hopefully. Well, enjoy, and as always, constructive criticism is appreciated and wanted.

_**Noiz, p!** _

Noiz turned away from his closet to see the hologram of Usagimodoki bouncing on the desk. He was sure that he had already put its SD card into his phone, so the cube should have called to him from his pocket. Maybe he had forgotten in his rush to get ready.

_**NOIZ, P!** _

“Yes, I heard you. What do you want?”

_**You have a message from Modoki, p!** _

Noiz sighed. Of course he did. Just when he was about to leave, too.  The bastard really had the worst timing.  “What does it say?”

**_He says that he_ _checked up on the information you sent him, but he couldn't find anything that seemed too useful, p! All he found out was that the native had a rivalry with another gang a few months ago, but he eventually won out, p!_ **

Playing with one of the piercings on his lip, Noiz thought for a moment. Not finding anything useful was an understatement. He didn't think that a gang rivalry would have anything to do with Sei, but he might as well have Modoki look a little farther into it.

Noiz turned back to the closet and grabbed a jacket. He had realized by now that even though he couldn't feel the cold, getting sick just wasn't worth it.

He thought for a couple more minutes and then remembered something that Sei had said. He dug in his pocket. He had never given the notes back to Aoba, so he was sure that they would be in the pocket of his jeans. When his fingers closed around the papers, Noiz wrenched them free of his pocket and looked them over quickly.

On the second page, Noiz's eyes fell on the information he was looking for. That's right. The native had had other lovers before Sei, but when he and Sei had gotten together, the native had stopped seeing them altogether. The person targeting Sei might have been an old lover of the native. It made sense. These types of cases were usually fueled by jealousy. Noiz would have to mention it to Aoba later.

“Send Modoki a message telling him thanks and that I have some more info for him to look into.”

Usagimodoki bounced twice and then let out another high-pitched _**P!**_ before he settled down and waited. When Noiz said nothing, the cube bounced again, saying, _**Noiz, p! Is there anything else you would like me to put down, p?**_

“Huh?” Noiz muttered, looking at the cube. He had zoned out for a moment. He shook his head, realizing what the cube had said. “Oh, yeah. Tell him to look into any previous lovers the native might have had. This might be a jealousy case. And tell him that he might as well look a little farther into the rivalry, just in case.”

_**Understood, p! The message is written and sent, p!** _

Noiz nodded and whipped his jacket around his shoulders to slip his arms through the sleeves. It was nearing nine o'clock, so he would have to leave soon. He closed the distance between himself and the computer desk in three steps. Usagimodoki was still bouncing on the desk, like usual, so Noiz checked over the computer until he saw that the cube's SD card was still in it. Noiz was almost positive that he had transferred the card to his phone.

Shaking his head, Noiz glanced at the clock on his wall. The hour hand was creeping closer and closer to nine. He would have to leave right then if he didn't want to be late. He pulled the card out of its slot and clicked it into his phone. Usagimodoki immediately popped up, bouncing like usual. Sliding the phone into his front pocket, Noiz strapped his handgun to his belt and turned for the door.

After sleeping for a few hours, he felt better, but Noiz was still in a bad mood because of his conversation with Akushima. Noiz never liked talking about his parents, much less thinking about them. It always left a bad taste in his mouth. It was their fault he was like this, anyway.

_That's not completely true. Its kinda your fault, too. You're the one who decided to shut off your sense of touch._

God, he hated when his inner voice was right. But it was true. He forced himself to discard one of his senses so that he wouldn't have to deal with the pain. Not like it mattered anymore. He was far away from his father, and nothing could make him go back. Nothing.

Noiz made his way down to the lobby of his apartment building and then out into the street. He couldn't feel the wind, but he saw the trees that lined the street were bending from the force of it. There was probably going to be a storm. It was pitch black outside, even with the lights from the buildings nearby.

He really needed to get a car.

Noiz walked the streets that led to the precinct with a silent mind. He didn't want to think about anything. This day had just been too long and he had too many things on his mind. If he chose to think about them now, they'd drive him insane. There was no point in worrying about things that would just cause you stress. So he kept his mind mostly blank so that the only thing that popped into his thoughts was a certain blue haired man.

_Why do I keep thinking about him?_

_Maybe you have feelings for him?_

_Doubt it. It's probably just because I haven’t gotten laid in a while. I'm trying to find anyone that could get me off._

_Its more than that and you know it._

Noiz shook his head. Like he said before, there was no point in worrying about something that would only cause him stress in the end. As if being a cop wasn't stress enough.

Before long, the dark outline of the precinct came into view. The only light on in the entire building was in the office next to Akushima's. That must have been Aoba's office. He was never in it because of the undercover work, but it had his name on it. Along with Mizuki's.

Noiz blocked out that thought as quickly as it came. Mizuki wasn't an issue here. They were trying to find the person who kidnapped him, but that was the only reason Noiz had to think about him. He didn't even know anything about the guy.

_Are you sure you aren't jealous?_

Noiz snorted at his own thought. Jealous. Yeah, right. He didn't get jealous. It was too much work and took up too much energy. There was no point. And it wasn't like he actually had...feelings...for Aoba. The guy was hot. That was about it. It stirred Noiz's dick more than it stirred his heart. He had only ever loved one person, and it wasn't the romantic kind of love.

“Fucking hell...” Noiz whispered as he was about to step into the elevator that would take him to the offices.

“What are you swearing about over there?”

Noiz turned at the sudden voice that seemed to echo through the room. Aoba was standing near the door, leaning against the wall with his head tilted and his arms crossed over his chest. He looked the epitome of nonchalance. Noiz blinked and stared at the bluenette for a moment.

“How long have you been there?” he questioned once his mouth was able to form words.

Aoba looked down at the watch on his wrist and answered, “About two minutes or so.” He paused and pushed off of the wall, his arms still crossed. He walked over to Noiz with soundless steps. “I saw you walking towards the precinct so I decided to wait down here for you.”

Aoba came to a stop about a foot away from Noiz. The blonde could smell the Ocean Breeze air freshener that Noiz had come to associate with Aoba. Whenever he smelled it, the bluenette would appear in his mind.

Inwardly shaking his head, Noiz looked down at Aoba. “Where's Akushima?” he asked, stepping away from the elevator now that he had no reason to go up there.

“He's not here,” Aoba answered, following. Noiz was about to retort, but Aoba held up a hand. “He left us a note saying that the rental car should be in the back, and that we should know where to go since he gave us the address earlier. We should be there until about five in the morning, then we can go home.”

Noiz gave a quick nod. Being trapped in a car with Aoba for eight hours didn't seem like a challenge in theory, but in practice it might be a little bit difficult. If Noiz's thoughts about needing to get laid were any indication, this was not going to end well. But he had no choice. He had to do this.

Seeing that Noiz seemed ready, Aoba stuck his hand into the pocket of the black wool peacoat he was wearing and withdrew the keys that Akushima had handed him earlier. It was then that Noiz noticed that Aoba looked a little different. His hair was up in the ponytail he saw normally, but the bluenette was wearing a pair of gray jeans and mid-calf length black boots that almost looked like women's boots.

“You look...different...” Noiz muttered. He didn't mean to say it aloud, but he guessed Aoba heard him because the bluenette looked down at himself.

“How so?”

Noiz looked off to the side and brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck, where two piercings lay.  Exactly, how did Aoba look different  Because he was wearing normal clothes instead of Platinum Jail's uniform? “Its nothing. Never mind.”

Aoba leaned forward a bit and clasped his hands behind his back. “You sure?”

The blonde nodded and cleared his throat. “We should get going.”

Aoba gave him a small smile and turned on his heel, hands still clasped behind his back. His ponytail swayed a bit as he did, exposing his neck. Noiz almost reached out a hand to touch the back of Aoba's neck. Almost. He caught himself seconds before he made contact.

_What the hell am I doing…?_ Noiz asked himself, shaking his head. This guy was his partner. Nothing more. He needed to stop before he dug his own grave.

“You coming or what?”

Noiz looked up to see Aoba holding the door open, one hand on the door with the other on his hip. The keys were still dangling from his left pinky.

“Yeah.”

The blonde stepped forward and followed Aoba out of the precinct and back into the chilly, autumn night.

“The car should be in the back,” Aoba called over his shoulder to where Noiz was shutting the door. “I didn't ask what kind of car it was, but it should be pretty easy to recognize. I also picked up some snacks and some drinks for us. I didn't know what you liked so I just grabbed whatever seemed good. Hope you like sweet things.”

Aoba continued on for a minute or two as they made their way around the building. Noiz stayed silent, content to just listen to Aoba babble happily. He never was a talkative person, so having someone talk without needing an answer from him was a godsend.

“I thought we could switch off on shifts or some--”

Aoba cut his sentence short and stopped in his tracks, almost causing Noiz to ram his nose into the back of Aoba's head.

“Jesus Christ, Aoba,” Noiz bit out, putting a hand on the man's shoulder to steady himself. “What the hell happened?”

“The fuck…?”

Noiz looked over Aoba's shoulder and saw what the bluenette was staring at.

Sitting in the middle of the precinct parking lot was a Toyota Sequoia, a very large SUV-like car. The two of them blinked and glanced at each other.

“Are you sure that's the one?” Noiz asked, an eyebrow raised. Aoba raised the hand that the keys were in and hit the unlock button on them. The headlights on the Sequoia blinked. Aoba looked back at Noiz. “Well, that answers that question.” Noiz sighed. “Come on.”

He walked around Aoba and made his way towards the car. He didn't need to look to know that Aoba was right on his heels. He could hear his footsteps. Since Aoba had the keys, Noiz walked over to the passenger side and got in. Aoba didn't get in the car, but he heard one of the rear doors open and a few bags were tossed in.

“Why the hell do we need such a big car for a stakeout?” Aoba muttered as he swung himself into the driver's seat. He had a slight pout to his expression. From what Noiz remembered of Aoba's car, it was rather small. He guessed that the bluenette was not used to driving such a big car.

“It's Akushima. He isn't the best judge of these things,” Noiz said, sighing. Aoba didn't answer. Instead he shoved the key into the ignition and twisted. The car came to life with a rumble that was very uncharacteristic of a car like this. “Well,” Noiz said with a low chuckle. “Wasn't expecting that.”

Aoba grunted.

_He must be in a bad mood now. And just a minute ago he was joking around and babbling_.

Noiz inwardly gave an exasperated sigh. He was actually trying to not be a dick, but it seemed like all his hard work was for nothing.

Shoving the Sequoia into gear, Aoba quickly reversed and spun them out of the parking lot. Not even five seconds later, they were on the road and on their way.

They sat in silence almost the entire ride. Apparently, the Rhyme Hotel was rather close to Platinum Jail, so it was pretty easy to find. They didn't even need to look back at the address that Akushima had given them.

It wasn't until they were almost there that Aoba let out a loud sigh.

Noiz looked over at him, but said nothing. He wasn't going to bother Aoba if the bluenette didn't want to say anything.

“Sorry.”

Noiz drew up an eyebrow at the muttered word. “For what?”

“Being a dick to you since you started working at the precinct,” Aoba admitted. He had his eyes glued to the road, but if Noiz didn't know any better, he would have sworn that Aoba was blushing. “I was just...annoyed by your 'devil-may-care' attitude. You acted as if it was the most natural thing to be a cop and look the way you do.” Aoba paused, then he groaned and shook his head. “No, that's not it.”

“Okay, before you go any further,” Noiz said in a rush. “Where the hell is this coming from?” The blonde was really confused, which was something he didn't like being. But in reality, confusion seemed to chase him wherever Aoba was concerned. Noiz felt like he was always somehow in the dark.

The older man gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “I don't even know. I just...hate how much of a jerk I've been to you. I'm not normally like that. So I wanted to apologize. I guess with Mizuki being gone, I just haven't been myself.”

Again with Mizuki. The man was a damned constant in their conversations and Noiz was starting to get sick of hearing his name.

But he kept his opinion to himself.

The two of them fell back into silence for the remainder of the ride. Noiz was trying to calm him overactive mind down, while it seemed like Aoba was trying to not cry. His shoulders were shaking slightly.

_I want to comfort him._

It was true. He did want to make the bluenette feel better, but Noiz was no where near experienced enough in the field to make anyone feel better. The most he would be able to do was make Aoba angry again.

“Looks like we're here.”

Noiz looked over from where he had been staring out the window and took in the sight before him.

The building was quite large. At least twenty stories, it loomed far above the rest of the buildings in the area. Most of the windows were alight and there was a steady rhythm to the doors opening and closing to let guests in and out.

Aoba drove around the block again until he found a spot that was out of the way, but still had a good view of the hotel. Parking the car and shutting it off, Aoba leaned his head back against the headrest. There was an empty silence that followed. Noiz was trying to figure out how to make Aoba feel better, while Aoba himself was rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

“Jesus, I'm such a crybaby...” Aoba whispered, more to himself than to Noiz. Because of this, Noiz kept himself from saying anything. After a minute, Aoba let out a loud sigh and unbuckled his seat belt. “Might as well look over the file again, just in case. It seems like Akushima added a few things after we went home.”

The blonde nodded. That was probably a good idea. It would keep them from addressing the elephant in the room. Well….car.

“What did he add?”

Aoba brushed his bangs to the side and twisted around in his seat, trying to reach something in the back. “Not sure. I haven't really looked yet.”

Noiz watched the bluenette as he struggled to reach whatever it was he was looking for. It was probably the file. When it was apparent that Aoba couldn't reach it, the blonde took over. He didn't have to struggle at all.

When Noiz sat back down in his seat, he had the file in his hands and was about to open it when he heard a quiet, “Hmph!” from beside him.

“What's the matter?” Noiz asked as he raised an eyebrow and looked over at Aoba. He had his arms crossed and was looking out the window as if he had been insulted. “What did I do this time?”

There was silence for a moment, but then Noiz heard a mumble, and then, “--longer.”

Noiz blinked. He couldn't hear what Aoba had said. He had caught the last word but that was about it. “Say again?”

“You think you're soooo great just because your arms are longer.”

Noiz's eyebrows shot up. “What?” He stared at Aoba, who was now blushing furiously as he continued to keep his eyes towards the window. When he didn't answer, Noiz snorted slightly in amusement. After a second, it turned into a full blown laugh.

Aoba whipped his head around to look at the blonde, who was now in a laughing fit, doubled over as he did so. “Why are you laughing at me!?”

“Because...that is...the most ridiculous...thing you have ever said!” Noiz managed to say in between laughs. He knew that Aoba was glaring at him but there wasn't much he could do to stop the laughter. He hadn't found something this funny in years. It was like a floodgate had opened and it just came pouring out.

It was almost two minutes before the laughter started to fade. His eyes were blurry, so he guessed that the laughter had brought tears to his eyes.

“You done?” Aoba asked when Noiz wiped his eyes. The blonde nodded and look over at him. He had a slight curve to his lips, so Noiz guessed that Aoba felt a little bit better. Once the laughter was completely gone, Aoba sighed and shook his head. “That's the first time I've ever seen you actually laugh...or smile for that matter.”

Noiz swallowed and let out a breath. “Yeah, well...its hard for me to find stuff to laugh at these days.”

“Why is that?” Aoba suddenly asked with a strange urgency to his voice. “Why do you always seem to have this wall of 'stay away from me' put up?”

Noiz looked down at his hands. He didn't know if he should actually tell Aoba the truth. Sure, they were partners, but temporarily. Just until they got Mizuki back. And once he _was_ back, what would happen? Noiz and Aoba would go their separate ways. Noiz would get a new partner, new cases, and that would be that.

“I just don't like people getting into my business.”

Aoba cocked his head to the side. “And yet, you've told me a lot about yourself already.”

“Say what now?” Noiz said, giving Aoba a shocked look. “No, I haven't.”

Aoba rolled his eyes and turned back to look at the hotel. “Sure, not verbally. But I can tell a lot about you by the way you act.”

Crossing his arms, Noiz drew up an eyebrow. “How so.”

Aoba took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving the hotel. “You try to stay away from people, which shows me that you've been hurt by someone before, whether that be physically, emotionally, or both. You try your hardest to help Sei, whom you barely know, which shows me that you have someone that is very important to you that you would do anything for. You aren't very talkative, which shows me that, once, someone didn't want you to talk.” The bluenette paused. “All that, and Akushima told me a bit about you.”

Noiz blinked. Had he really figured out all that on his own?

_Wait..._ _Akushima?_

“What did he tell you?” Noiz asked, his voice low. How much had Akushima spilled? And what right did he have to just go around telling people about Noiz's past?

Aoba shrugged. “Not much, actually.” He started to unbutton his coat as he talked. “Just that your parents weren't so nice to you as a kid, and that you really care about your younger brother. And that you were born in Germany, which explains the blonde hair.”

Noiz immediately calmed his mind. If that was everything that Akushima had said, then that wasn't so bad. He really didn't need Aoba pitying him, and Noiz knew that if Aoba had learned about the rest of his past, he would definitely pity him. Pity was the one thing he really didn't need.

Aoba watched as the blonde stared down at his hands, chewing on his lip.

_Whatever's on this kid's mind must be pretty serious._

Shaking his head slightly, Aoba raised his arms and pressed his palms against the roof of the car, stretching. After shrugging out of his coat, he looked back at Noiz, who was watching him out of the corner of his eye.

“Since you seem to know so much about me already,” Noiz began, catching Aoba by surprise, “Why don't you tell me something?”

A smirk tugged at the corner of Aoba's mouth. “What in the world would you want to know about little ol' me?”

Noiz snorted at the expression. It was an English saying, but somehow, Aoba made it seem like the most natural saying in the world. “Tell me about your partner.”

The words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them. Why the hell had he said that?

“You're my partner, dumbass.”

Noiz looked at Aoba and he knew that his words had hurt Aoba. Of course, they would. He shouldn't have brought this up. But there was no turning back now.

“You know who I mean.”

The bluenette was silent for a few moments. He had turned his face towards the window, so Noiz couldn't see his expression. However, he was very clearly able to see the way Aoba twisted his hands together. This was a painful topic.

“He...” Aoba started, but then he paused. “Mizuki was...is...my best friend. We grew up down the street from each other.” He paused again and turned to look up at the hotel they were supposed to be watching. “He's older than me by two years, but he never treated me like I was. He always treated me like an equal. Even though I used to get bullied because of my more...feminine...appearance, he never once acted like I was weaker.

“Mizuki always had a strong sense of justice, even when he was little. He was always trying to help others and would never let someone get hurt. So, when he told me that he decided to join the police academy, I wasn't surprised at all. He even suggested that I join, too, since I had always been interested in law enforcement. It was natural that I would enroll, considering how persuasive he could be. And when we both graduated, we signed up for the same precinct. We even requested each other as partners. And I guess that's how it went down.”

Aoba fell silent again, keeping his eyes forward.

Noiz felt like he should say something, anything, but he had no idea how to make his words not sound rude. Taking a breath, he said, his voice low, “I don't mean to press into your personal life, but I feel like you two were more than 'best friends'.”

Aoba tilted his head slightly so he could look at Noiz out of the corner of his eye. “Does it feel that way?”

Noiz nodded, not saying a word.

“Well,” the bluenette breathed, a quiet laugh escaping, “I guess you have a point. If it feels like there was more between us, that's just because of how I tell it. If you were able to ask Mizuki, you would get a _very_ different vibe.”

“What does that mean?”

“I've been in love with him for as along as I can remember, but he has never once thought of me that way.” Aoba's voice cracked a bit, and Noiz thought he was going to start crying, but no tears fell. “I've always just been the 'little brother' to him. I guess he never even realized how I truly felt.”

“Why didn't you ever tell him?”

Aoba took a deep breath and let it out slowly, leaning his head back to look at the roof of the car. When he spoke again, his voice was low. “How could I?” he asked, more to himself than to Noiz. “By the time I even realized how I really felt, he had already found Clear. And if you could see them together, you would know just how much they love each other. I couldn't ruin that. Mizuki had never loved anyone before Clear; he never had any boyfriends, or even girlfriends for that matter.” There was another pause as Aoba stared off into space. It was a while before he spoke again. While Noiz waited, he heard his phone chime from his pocket.

“I gave up a long time ago, and there's no reason to even try now that Mizuki is gone.”

“He's not gone.”

Aoba picked up his head as he looked at Noiz in shock.

“What?”

Noiz was looking down at his phone as he explained, “He's not gone in the sense that you are thinking of. He's still alive, and we are going to get him back. It'll just take some time.”

“How do you know, though?” Aoba questioned, giving Noiz a hard look. “Can you say for certain that all of this isn't for nothing?”

Noiz turned to look at Aoba and focused on his amber eyes. “I can say for certain that all of this isn't for nothing.” He then held up his phone so the screen was facing Aoba.

On the screen was a picture that was dated as the day before Aoba and Noiz were assigned as partners, which was two days before. The picture was grainy, as if it was taken by a security camera. However, three things were fairly visible: a red-haired man, tied to a chair, with two blonde men standing in front of him, their backs to the camera. The red-head was looking up at the two, an angry expression on his face.

Aoba's eye grew wider than seemed possible as he stared at the screen. “Is...is that…?” He took the phone from Noiz's hand and whispered, “That...tattoo...”

Noiz had seen it, too. There was a teardrop tattoo underneath the man's left eye.

Aoba slowly raised his head to look at Noiz, his face pale.

“Noiz,” Aoba whispered, “Where did you get this photo?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, this chapter didn't go where I thought it would go. I was originally going to include a smut scene, but I held off on that for now, but there will be one in Case #1, just not yet. I hope you guys enjoyed this, because I sure had a hell of a time writing it xD


	8. Interference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something isn't right with the Rhyme Hotel, and it's Noiz and Aoba's job to figure out what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap, I'm so sorry for the wait. Writer's block and constant anxiety and asthma attacks are a horrible mix. I'm also in the process of moving so that doesn't help. Anyway, looks like there are only going to be two more chapters of this in Part 1. I was originally gonna have 15 but I guess not haha. Anyway, thanks for not throwing tomatoes or coming at me with pitchforks. Hope you enjoy this chapter. It's not very well put together, but I thought I'd rather have something than nothing at all. Enjoy!

“So...” Aoba kept his eyes on the hotel, since it was his turn to keep watch. “You asked Modoki to look around for any info on Mizuki, didn't you?”

Noiz sighed from the backseat and shook his head. “For the fifth time, no, I didn't. Yes, I did tell him about Mizuki and that he's missing, but he went and looked around by himself. I only told him to check out things having to do with Sei.”

“Why don't I believe you?” Aoba asked with a slight lilt of amusement.

“I don't care if you believe me or not. I'm telling the truth.”

Aoba turned around and smacked Noiz on the forehead. “I was messing with you, dork.”

Noiz rolled his eyes. He didn't feel it, but he knew that Aoba didn't know that. “I'm not the best with jokes. I thought you knew that by now.”

Aoba raised an eyebrow and gave Noiz a strange look. “You didn't even flinch when I did that and I smacked you pretty hard. That had to have hurt.”

Noiz snorted and turned on his side to see if he could get some sleep.

“You know,” Aoba said, loudly opening a bag of chips. “You act like you don't care, but deep down, I can tell you're actually a good person.” Just as loudly, the bluenette began to crush up the chips. With each crinkle, Noiz flinched.

After a few more seconds, Noiz flew into a sitting position and growled, “Enough with the chips, Aoba!”

Aoba quickly leaned in the opposite direction and started to giggle, showing that he was doing it on purpose. “Sorry! You were so uptight and quiet that I had to tease you!”

“That wasn't fucking teasing! That was torture with sound!”

This statement caused Aoba's giggles to begin anew, louder this time.

“Start watching the damn building and stop getting on my nerves,” Noiz grumbled, flopping back down in the backseat. Aoba rolled his eyes and turned back to the building.

They hadn't seen anything in the last few hours, which should have raised some red flags in their minds, but Aoba seemed to be on a completely different train of thought.

After a few moments, Aoba whispered, “Hey, Noiz?”

“What, Aoba?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Why exactly did you become a cop? You don't seem like the kind of person to do this sort of thing.”

Noiz remained silent for a minute or two. He was unsure if he should tell the truth, avoid the question, or just ignore it all together. It wasn't like he wanted to lie to Aoba...but would he pity Noiz? That was the last thing he wanted. However, it didn't seem like he was going to get the chance to answer.

“Noiz...something's up.”

Aoba's voice was tense, and when Noiz sat up to see what Aoba meant, he saw that the bluenette had gone rigid.

“What's wrong?” Noiz questioned, starting to become worried.

Aoba said nothing, and instead he nodded towards the hotel that they were supposed to be investigating. Noiz followed Aoba's gaze and noticed what it was that had gotten Aoba so worked up.

There was nothing there.

There was no traffic, no lights, no people. It was as if everyone and everything had just vanished.

“How did we not notice this before?” Noiz mumbled to himself.

“We weren't paying attention,” Aoba answered. “We let personal issues get in the way of our job.” Aoba didn't look at Noiz, but kept his eyes on the hotel. Putting his hand to his waist, he made sure his pistol was still there. “We need to go check it out. I'm getting a very bad vibe from this.”

Noiz nodded and opened up the backseat door before Aoba could say anything else. But the older man was right. This wasn't normal. On such a busy street and at the busiest hotel on the island, the fact that there was no movement was a very bad sign. They should have noticed it sooner. This mistake could cost them the case.

“Ready?” Noiz heard Aoba whisper. He had already sunk back into detective-mode, putting his hair back up and leaving his coat in the car.

Noiz nodded and the two began to make their way across the street towards the hotel.

“You remember what room it was?”

Aoba nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Pressing a key, Noiz heard the speed-dial going. It didn't take long for someone to pick up. Noiz couldn't hear who it was, but he suspected that it was Akushima. Their chief always managed to get to work far earlier than anyone else.

“There hasn't been any movement for the last few hours...Yes, we should have noticed it, but our minds were on different things. We're heading over their now, probably going to need back up. I'm not sure what we're going to find in there.”

A few seconds later, Aoba had put his phone back into his pocket. They had reached the hotel doors. The both of them pulled their pistols from their holsters and looked at each other. Nodding, Noiz opened the door slowly.

The interior of the hotel was just as silent as outside. Normally, the lobby of the Rhyme Hotel would be chock full of guests, bellhops, and the like.

“Noiz, this isn't right.”

Aoba's voice was low and quiet. The blue-haired man was right. This wrong. Very wrong.

Pistols in hand, the two officers made their way carefully through the lobby. There didn't seem to be anything out of place. With high ceilings and wrap-around stair cases, the hotel lobby was spacious enough that their footsteps echoed. Even with them trying their hardest to be silent, there was no mistaking it.

“Elevator or stairs?” Noiz muttered, glancing in Aoba's direction.

There was a pause, and then Aoba answered, “While the stairs would be quieter, the elevator would be quicker. The room in question is on the twenty-fifth floor. I would rather not walk all the way up there.”

Nodding, the blonde glanced around the room, looking for an elevator. As soon as his eyes fell on the line of elevators to their left, he cleared his throat slightly to get Aoba's attention. With the bluenette trailing behind him, Noiz made sure that it was actually as deserted as it seemed.

Once inside the elevator, it didn't take long for them to reach the twenty-fifth floor. With a generic ding, the elevator doors slid open.

The first thing the two detectives saw was blood. There was enough to completely coat the plush Armani carpet that spread down the hall.

“Holy shit...” Whether Noiz said it aloud or in his head, he wasn't entirely sure.

Neither of them moved until the same generic ding sounded. They stepped out of the elevator together, looking down opposite ends of the hallway, guns raised.

“Clear,” Aoba muttered after a few seconds, to which Noiz responded in kind. Just like in the lobby, there was no one, as if they had just vanished.

The silence was like knives to Noiz's brain. It was deafening, as cliché as the statement was. Once more, they stood there, staring at the bloodstained carpet.

“All this blood couldn't be from the same person,” Aoba said, breaking the silence. After a soft grunt of affirmation from Noiz, the bluenette continued, “They human body doesn't hold this much blood. There are probably multiple victims.”

Noiz glanced over his shoulder to his partner. “We should probably call this in. This entire floor is a crime scene,” he stated, pulling his phone from his pocket.

Just as he did do, said phone beeped with a message from an unknown number.

“What was that?”

“A message...a video message.”

Aoba nodded. “You check that out, I'll start searching rooms.” He didn't wait for a reply before he made his way to the door closest to him. Looking back, he should have known how bad of an idea going off on his own really was.

Noiz tapped on the play button of the video and was brought to was looked like a security camera live feed. At first, it seemed like a normal hallway. Why would someone send him a live feed? It didn’t make any sense. However, the longer he watched, the more he noticed that while this said live, it was just a recording. The weirdest part was that it looked strangely like the hallway they were currently in. His suspicions were proven correct when someone walked down the hallway and they were suddenly yanked off screen. Seconds later, the person fell, with what looked like a slit throat.

_Wait, what?_

In a split second of recognition and pure instinct, Noiz whirled around on his heal, sprinting for where Aoba had gone.

“Aoba, back off!” he yelled, seeing the blue-haired man turn to look at him with confusion. Not even seconds after Noiz had said anything, he heard a gunshot, and Aoba flinched strongly at the sound.

In shock, the bluenette looked over his shoulder to where the bullet had imbedded itself in the wall. Noiz slammed into Aoba, knocking him on his feet and aiming his gun in the direction of where he had seen the bullet fly.

However, he had turned too late; the shooter was nowhere in sight. Noiz realized that there was another hallway that branched off the one they were in.

“Akushima?”

Noiz looked down to see Aoba crouched low, phone to his ear as he kept his eyes on the hallway. After a few seconds of silence, Aoba’s amber eyes grew wide.

“What do you mean he’s gone!? Yes, I fucking know what you said, but how!? Yeah, we’re gonna need backup.” Aoba ended the call and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.

“What’s going on, Aoba?” Noiz muttered, trying to keep his voice low in case the shooter came back, listening for any sound.

“The guy that assaulted Sei somehow escaped. No one knows how, but we’re guessing it was someone on the inside. There’s no other way he could have.”

Noiz knew what that meant. He had reported to the person who had hired him and told that person that the police were going to be coming for him. That must have been why all the blood; the head honcho had gotten pissed and probably killed some people.

“We have to find this guy, and fast.”

Aoba looked up at his partner and nodded. “If we don’t, who knows how many more people will be killed in his anger.”  

After a pause, Aoba’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Sei doesn’t deserve this.”

Noiz wasn’t sure how to respond. Just like before, he didn’t know how to comfort the older male. Opening his mouth, he said the first thing that he could think of. “No one does, now let’s get this son of a bitch.”

That seemed to do the trick, because amber eyes met green with fire in them.

Together, the partners proceeded down the branched off hallway slowly, checking inside every room that had an open door, clearing them as the went along. Almost every door was open, which worried Noiz. The shooter was obviously doing it on purpose, to confuse them.

Halfway down the hallway, Noiz heard a scraping sound coming from somewhere to his left. Since Aoba was behind him by about half a foot, he held up a hand to stop him from going any farther. Motioning off to his left, Noiz stopped to listen a little harder. He couldn’t tell what or where the scraping was coming from. It sounded like it was from a room, but there wasn’t a door there.

“Who knew that fuzz could be so fuckin’ stupid.”

The voice caused the two detectives to whip around, pistols raised. Standing about ten feet behind them, what looked like a Comanche II-A (a .38 Special Double Action Revolver) in hand, was a man.

“I can’t believe the both of you walked right into a trap!” the man, who’s hair was slicked back to look like an old-timey yakuza thug, all but yelled. “I should have known that it was going to be you, Aoba, always looking after that little skank of brother you have.”

A cerulean eyebrow rose in confusion. “I don’t have a brother.”

“Don’t egg him on, Aoba. He’s just trying to get at you.”

A laugh that sounded like more like a pained grunt emerged from the mouth of the wannabe yakuza. “That’s right!” he once again yelled, waving the revolver around in the air. “I forgot, you were just a baby when you were separated.”

Noiz was starting to get annoyed with this guy’s voice. “You gonna get on with it or what?” he growled, keeping his pistol raised.

Aiming at the blonde, the other man put a hand in the air and shook his head. “Pushy, pushy! I’m not done, but I guess I can explain some things before you two die.”

Aoba and Noiz glanced at each other. This guy couldn’t be serious. What was this, a movie where the villain tells the good guys his entire plan?

_Of course, he’s going to. This guy’s an idiot. How he managed to...wait a sec, the hair...of course. He’s most likely actually in the Yakuza._

“Hey! Are you even listening, blondie!?”

No, he hadn’t been. But now he was.

When Noiz didn’t say anything, but focused on the thug’s face, he started to continue. “Right, as I was saying. How that annoying drugged out skank could get a hold of someone like Mink, I will never know. But because of him, I lost my spot. Do you know what that means? I lost everything. Money, power, hell, even the respect of my boys. It wasn’t fair, ya know? So I thought, what better way to get back to where I was than to get that fucker out of the picture. So, I did the only thing I could, pressure someone into beating the shit out of the druggy. But of course, his overprotective saint of a brother had to step in. So again, I thought, what better way to fix that than to fucking kill the blue haired fucker and his asshole partner. And look at that, here you are, right in my--”

Suddenly, the thug stopped talking, eyes wide as they suddenly rolled in the back of his head. Within seconds, the man was on the floor, face first.

Looking up from the slumped form of the yakuza thug, Aoba and Noiz took in the sight of something totally unexpected.

A native.

The native that Sei was dating.

The native that was standing with hand poised in the air, which must have just struck a pressure point on the thug to knock him out, and with the other hand, was holding onto the smaller hand of none other than Sei.  The smaller male had a nervous look on his face, but when his eyes fell on Aoba, he seemed to let out some tension.

Also looking up from the thug, the native locked eyes with both Noiz and Aoba. Then with a voice as low as a canyon uttered one small sentence.

“He talks too much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is a link to the gun mentioned before for a visual if needed, : http://guns.armsrack.com/l/1104/Comanche-II-A-38-Special  
> Also, I hope the introduction of Mink didn't seem too forced. Tell me what you guys think! Let me know if you find any typos!!


	9. Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the perpetrator has been apprehended, what will become of Sei and the native?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little filler of Mink/Sei cuteness because I have a very difficult chapter to write after this!! Hope you enjoy.

“So can you tell me again why you were here, Sei?”

Aoba had his arms crossed and was looking at Sei with a disappointed look. Sei was shifting his feet, glancing over at Mink who was being questioned by another detective.

“Aoba, please, can we talk about this later? I’m kinda freaking out.”

Aoba’s eyes softened as he took in the expression on Sei’s face. Sighing, he dropped his crossed arms. “I’m only asking because its my job. You were here at the crime scene, with a gang leader, and you might be a suspect in the killing of those ten people.”

“But I just got there moments before we found you!”

“I believe you, but they might not. I’m asking you myself so it’ll be easier on you.”

Sei’s mouth had formed into a pout either from annoyance or anxiety. Noiz had to admit, it was kinda cute. In fact, in reminded him of the face Aoba had given him earlier that night. They really did look alike….

“Fine...I was at home, sitting on my couch when I got a call from Akushima asking if everything was okay and if I was safe. Of course, I was, because Tori was sitting in the room with me because I asked him to come over so I wouldn’t be alone. He must have realized that I was worried so he called Mink. Mink picked me up, even though I kept telling him no, and he brought me here. We heard a gunshot, ran up, and found you guys, so Mink stepped in. That’s it. End of story. And I’ve never seen that guy before in my life. How was I supposed to know that he was obsessed with Mink?”

Aoba nodded. “Okay. Noiz did you get that?” Aoba asked, looking over his shoulder at the blonde. After Noiz nodded back, he turned to Sei and said, “Okay, we’re all done, so you can go back to Mink now. But I expect both of you to be at your apartment and he is going to explain some things once we’re all done here.”

Sei nodded and padded off towards the native.

Once Sei was back at Mink’s side, the native turned to him and brushed the smaller man’s bangs to the side. It was such a loving gesture that both Aoba and Noiz felt slightly awkward watching the two.

Turning away, Aoba sighed.

“What’s up?” Noiz asked, guessing that Aoba had something more on his mind. The bluenette only sighed when he couldn’t figure something out.

“I’m confused.”

Rolling his eyes, Noiz let out a slight snort.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. That wasn’t much to go on,” Aoba replied, scratching underneath where his hair was tied up. “Just something that thug said. He kept saying stuff about me having a brother. But I don’t have one. I don’t have any siblings whatsoever. I don’t get it.”

“He was probably just saying it to get to you. He’s yakuza. Its what they do.”

Aoba let out a breath and made a face. Noiz wasn’t sure what the expression was, but it seemed like skepticism almost. “I don’t know...the more I think about it, the more it seems true. Sometimes when I’d go back home and talk to my grandmother about Sei, she would get a sad look on her face, like she was missing something.”

Aoba was silent once again, and Noiz could do nothing but stand there. He was just as confused as Aoba seemed to be. Noiz had a talent of being able to tell when someone was lying, and the thug didn’t seem to be lying about what he had said. He had the look of someone insane, but not a liar.

_Guess there’s nothing for it. Might as well ask Modoki. I’ve been relying on him a lot and I’m never gonna hear the end of it._

“Noiz, Seragaki!”

The two detectives heard their names being called and turned towards the voice. Akushima was yelling for them.

As they walked up to their Chief, he handed something off to another officer. It seemed to be an evidence bag with the revolver that the thug had had earlier.

“What did you learn from Sei?” Akushima asked, his eyes drifting off to look at Sei and the native.

“Not much, other than that they got there after we did. He said that that was the first time he had ever seen the thug,” Aoba informed him. The three were silence for a moment and then something seemed to pop into Aoba’s head. “By the way, who even is that guy?”

Akushima let out a breath and scratched his head. “Apparently,” he began, pulling his eyes back towards the two detectives in front of him. “His father and that native had had an altercation in the past, which caused the two of them to have a lot of contact. The kid latched onto Mink and they had quite the physical relationship for a while, but he was soon cast off like all the native’s other lovers. I’m guessing that was Sei’s fault.” He paused and looked back at Sei and Mink, who were now standing close to one another as they talked to yet another officer.

Aoba nodded even though the Chief hadn’t said anything. “I know what you’re thinking. I felt the same way. If he is that gentle with Sei, he must truly care for him. I don’t think he’d ever cast off Sei like the others.”

The three stood in silent agreement.

There was something about watching the other two that made them all feel very calm. For Aoba, it was a feeling of relief, that Sei had found someone who would and could protect him.

For Akushima, it was almost a fatherly feeling. Since Aoba had gone undercover, the both of them had talked with Sei numerous times, and there was just something about the dark-haired dancer that brought out Akushima’s overprotective nature, like he used to have with Noiz.

And for Noiz...it was amazement. He had never seen affection like that. He had never _felt_ affection like that. He had never witnessed his parents that way. All the couples he had seen growing up were only together for business or entertainment. There was no love in anything he had ever seen.

It was always something he wished he had had.

 

* * *

 

 

“Are you sure you are alright?”

The older man had asked him that at least six times in the last five minutes. Sei rolled his eyes but looked up at Mink and smiled. “Yes, I’m fine. Just tired. And a bit relieved.”

“That they found who attacked you?” The native’s voice was low and still held a bit of anger.

Sei brushed at the sleeve of his red jacket for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts.

“Well,” he said, looking back towards where Aoba and Noiz were talking to the Chief of Police. “That, too. But that wasn’t what immediately came to mind.”

Mink hummed slightly, which Sei had realized meant for him to continue. He looked back towards the older man and leaned on him slightly, relishing in the warmth of another body in the cold November morning air and the smell of cinnamon that seemed to surround Mink at all times. It took him a few moments to answer as the smell and the warmth enveloped him.

“Sei.”

“Hmm?” The dark-haired male had almost fallen asleep. He hadn’t slept that entire night, knowing that Aoba might be in danger because of him. “Oh...right,” he mumbled, standing up again. “I’m relieved because I thought that Aoba might be hurt, or that he would be in danger because of me. It was my fault that I got attacked, and it was because of that that Aoba had to investigate it. I felt really bad and I was really worried. I was worried about you getting in trouble and Aoba getting hurt to the point that I stopped worrying about myself. That’s why I forced you to take me with you.”

Mink was about to respond, but Aoba walked up to the two of them.

“Sei, you and Mink can go home for now,” the bluenette said, glancing up towards the native, but not making eye contact. “If we need any more information from either of you, we’ll be in touch. Be safe on the way home, okay?”

He didn’t even wait for them to respond before he jogged back over to Noiz, who was standing with his arms crossed staring at the two. Sei could tell that he was analyzing them. He’d seen the same look the other day when he had first met the blonde.

“Don’t worry about him,” Mink intoned, keeping his already low voice low. Looking back up at the native, Sei noticed that his golden eyes were slightly dark. “He’s had someone watching me that past week or so, but I don’t think he’s a threat.”

Sei blinked at his lover. “Oh, I knew that he wasn’t a threat. Actually, I was thinking that it would be funny if him and Aoba got together. Aoba’s obsession with Mizuki needs to go away, and I think that having Noiz around might get him out of the slump he’s been.”

The native let out a low chuckle. “Always the matchmaker, I see.”

Sei laughed as well and broke out into a toothy smile. “Always!”

Mink rolled his eyes in much the same manner that Sei had done earlier. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

Sei’s smile faded a bit. He had heard that same phrase a lot. Mink never let him go home with him. He had a habit of only meeting Sei at his own home, which frustrated the smaller male quite a bit.

“I don’t want to go home”

Mink had taken a few steps before Sei had spoken, but afterward, he paused. “Then where would you like to go?”

Sei sucked in a breath. This was not the normal way things went. After Sei said he didn’t want to go home, Mink usually stayed silent and brought the dark-haired male home without a second thought. This was different.

Sei stared for a moment. Mink had halfway turned back to him, waiting for an answer. There was a slight hint of amusement in his golden eyes. Stepping back towards Sei, the native put a hand on Sei’s cheek.

“Where would you like to go…?” Mink repeated, bringing his forehead to Sei’s in show of affection. “I’ll take you anywhere you want. All you have to do is ask.”

Sei let out a stuttered breath. He was not used to this level of attention from Mink. Sure, they had been together for months, and Mink was always very affectionate to him, but this was different.

“Well...I...” Sei struggled for a moment with whether he wanted to say it or not. He wasn’t sure how the native would react, and he didn’t want this moment to end. But in the end, he managed to get out, “I...want to be with you.”

Mink let out a breath of laughter. When he pulled back, Sei could see a slight smile on his face. “In that case...why don’t we go home?”

Sei blinked again. “What?”

Mink didn’t answer his question. Instead, he took hold of Sei’s hand and started to walk away from the hotel. At first, Sei thought that Mink was taking him to his own apartment, back at Platinum Jail like he usually did. But instead, the turned in a different direction, to a part of town that Sei had only been to a few times. It was a higher class section of Midorijima.

“Mink...where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

Sei let out a sound of frustration. For all that Mink was, cryptic was about seventy percent of him. He was extremely confused. Then again, that’s how he felt most of the time that he was with the older man. He was a man of few words and even fewer facial expressions. Despite everything they’d been through, he fell in love with him more and more every day.

But this was ridiculous.

“Mink!”

No answer. Just the sound of heavy boots.

“Mink, please!”

Still nothing.

“Mink! Stop!!”

Sei raised his voice, and the native stopped walking, always causing Sei to bash his nose against the man’s back.

“Jesus, what is going on? Where are you taking me?” Sei rubbed his nose to get the tingling sensation to fade.

“Here.”

Ceasing the rubbing, Sei looked up at Mink’s back and leaned to the side to see what was in front of them.

Before him was what looked like a townhouse. It had a dark wooden double door, and above the door was a sign that said, “Glitter”. Sei blinked at hit in confusion.

“Why are we here?”

Mink looked down at the confused younger male and smiled slightly, which he had been doing a lot of in the past twenty minutes. That confused Sei even more. He never smiled.

“I’ve been waiting to show you this for about a month now,” Mink said, looking back at the house. “This is the reason why I’ve been absent for a while. I’ve been doing jobs and repairing this place.”

“But why?”

“Because this is going to be our home.”

Sei leaned back as if Mink had slapped him. “I’m sorry...I don’t think I caught that.”

Mink let out that huff of air that was his laughter. “Yes, you did. But I’ll say it again. I was fixing this place up for you...for us.”

The dark-haired male looked at the house and then back at his lover. “Wait...this is…?” He didn’t finish his sentence, knowing that Mink would understand what he meant.

“Yes. It is.”

Letting out a breath of what felt like relief, confusion, and disbelief, Sei stared at the door.

“This is for us?”

“Yes.”

“You...did all this...for us?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Why?”

Mink sighed and rolled eyes. Just like how he was a man of few words, Sei was a man of many. The younger male wouldn’t stop talking unless he was forced to.

The native didn’t answer his lover. Instead, he turned fully towards him and took the younger man into his arms. Enveloping him in warmth and the smell of cinnamon, Sei started to relax a bit, resting his hard against Mink’s chest.

“I did this so that I could protect you. I failed to protect you before, and I failed again when you were attacked. I should have been there to protect you, but I wasn’t. Having you beside me every night would ensure that you are safe.”

“But...”

“No. This is not inconveniencing me. I did this on my own volition. You are not in the wrong. You never were. This is going to be our home.”

Sei let out a quick breath. He really couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Mink never said that many sentences in one sitting and it was freaking him out. But he had no reason to not believe the native. And it wasn’t like he wasn’t happy. Hell, he was ecstatic.

But this was so random.

A million thoughts and emotions were flooding through Sei’s mind. He didn’t know what to say or do. He was started to get dizzy.

“Sei, look at me.”

Sei heard his lover’s deep baritone and looked up at him. The face in front of him was slightly blurry, and he couldn’t figure out why. Wait, was he crying?

He must have been, because Mink but a thumb on his cheek and wiped away what must have been a tear.

“Sei, I love you.”

Sei let out a choked sound. Although he knew how Mink felt (the native had expressed it many times over), he had never heard him say it before. Sei really was crying now because he could barely see his lover’s face.

“Can...can you say that again?” Sei stuttered, as he tried to hold in a sob.

“I love you.”

At that repetition of the phrase, Sei couldn’t hold it in. He began to sob as tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He was so happy, and so relieved. He couldn’t believe it.

So on that quiet street, in front of what would soon be their home, Sei cried out all of his frustration, fear, and happiness in the arms of his lover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am planning a Mink/Sei fic that takes place six months before Case #1 takes place, which will be all about the start of their relationship. This is going to basically be the epilogue of that fic.


	10. Affection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noiz starts to realize some things, but why does he feel so lousy about it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This didn't turn out how I originally had planned, but when does it? Hope you guys enjoy this!

Sighing, Aoba turned away from the way that Mink had dragged Sei off to. He was sure that they’d be fine. Either way, they had better make sure they were back at Sei’s apartment like Aoba asked them to.

“You’re worrying again.”

Aoba turned to look at the younger male next to him. Noiz had been at his side for the better half of an hour. Aoba wasn’t sure why the blonde was sticking to him like that. He seemed almost protective.

“No, I’m not,” Aoba said, blushing a bit and turning away from Noiz. What the hell was he thinking? Noiz didn’t like him like that. Or at all, it seemed like.

“You only sigh when you’re worried about something.”

This comment only made Aoba blush more. How had Noiz picked up on something as small as that. He had been with Mizuki since they were little and he still hadn’t figured out Aoba’s penchant for sighs.

_Why am I even thinking about Noiz like that?_

“Earth to Aoba!”

A hand waved vigorously in front of his face.

“Huh, wuh?” Aoba stuttered, shaking his head as his eyes tried to refocus. Noiz was now standing in front of the bluenette, leaning forward to the point that their noses almost touched. “What is it?”

“They’re already packing everything up. We should probably head back to the precinct.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

Aoba held his breath. Once Noiz had nodded at his answer and turned away, he tried to let out his sigh as quietly as he could before following quickly behind him. He’d have to watch that. For some reason, he didn’t want the younger male to worry about him.

 

Back at the precinct, everyone was still in an uproar. With the murder of ten innocent people, the media would be having a field day. This put every officer in the building on edge. While crime was a typically normal thing on Midorijima, mass murder was not.

“I feel useless.”

Noiz turned to look at the blue-haired man standing next to him. Aoba had been pretty quiet the entire ride back. Aoba was never a big talker normally, but this level of silence was a bit much even for him. There was something on the bluenette’s mind, and Noiz had no clue what it could be.

“Why?” Noiz answered.

“Look at them,” Aoba told him, waving his around. “Everyone is doing something, and here we are, the two lead detectives on the case, and we can’t do a thing.”

Noiz had to admit, doing nothing was a bit annoying when everyone was rushing around. “Why don’t we leave then?” Noiz blurted, shrugging a bit.

Raising an eyebrow, Aoba turned to him with confused, amber eyes. “What, right now? What if they need us?”

“We have phones.”

“Well!” Aoba paused, closing his mouth as he thought the idea over. What Noiz had said was true. But he had never had the idea to sneak off before. He didn’t even know how to go about it.

_I suppose we could just walk out of the building…?_

“Are you sure it’ll be okay?” Aoba said aloud, looking up at Noiz. The blonde seemed very calm, but then again, he always did.

“The most they can do is call us back in. It’s not like we’ll get in too much trouble. Our shift ended a while ago.”

“That’s true...”

Letting out an exasperated sigh and grabbed the older man’s hand, pulling him towards the elevator. Aoba didn’t even have time to complain at the sudden contact. Before he could say anything, they were already in the elevator, heading towards the lobby. Even while they were standing there, Noiz didn’t let go of Aoba’s hand. It seemed awkward for them both, but neither said a word.

It wasn’t long before the doors opened and Noiz was dragging him out of the building and down the street.

“Noiz, where are you going? The cars are over there!”

The blonde ignored his partner. In all honesty, he had no idea where he was going. He just didn’t want to let go of Aoba’s hand.

After a few minutes, Noiz suddenly stopped walking, almost causing Aoba to run right into him.

“Oh, done now?” Aoba muttered, sarcasm coating his voice.

Noiz didn’t answer again. He still refused to release Aoba’s hand.

_What am I doing? Why can’t I let go? What am I even hoping to do. This is fucking stupid. Goddamn, he smells so good._

Noiz quickly turned towards the older male. His expression was laced with confusion and slight annoyance, but he made no move to pry his hand from Noiz’s. It was still early morning so the light from the streetlights was glinting off of Aoba’s eyes, making them seem less like amber and more like gold.

A slight breeze ruffled the Aoba’s cerulean hair, still in its ponytail. The movement caused a wave of Aoba’s scent to drift into Noiz’s nose. It was amazing how tantalizing a single scent could be.

“Noiz? Is something wrong?” Aoba’s expression had changed from confusion and annoyance to confusion and concern, and it made Noiz’s chest clench in a weird way.

“I...I just...” he stuttered, not sure how to answer the question. Nothing was _wrong_ , in a sense. It just felt...strange. He’d never felt this way before and it confused him. Noiz was never confused. That fact just made him even _more_ confused. Noiz was blinking, letting out quick breaths. Was he panicking? Why?

Noiz’s confusion and panic was pulling his breath from his lungs way too fast. He was beginning to hyperventilate. But again, why? What was causing this?

“Noiz?”

Noiz vaguely heard Aoba calling out to him. The voice sounded distant and muffled. His vision started to swim and he had no idea what was going on. Black splotches were appearing in his vision. He’d never experienced something like this before. And through the entire thing, the only word that could form in his mind was, “Why?”

Suddenly, Noiz felt something on the back of his head, pulling it down to rest on something slightly hard, but it smelt like the ocean. It was a light scent that he recognized. This was...Aoba’s scent.

Breathing in that scent again, Noiz closed his eyes against the dizziness. The more of it that he breathed in, the calmer Noiz felt. It was so...comforting...and familiar, like something he had felt when he was very young. It was the feeling of being held close to someone.

Noiz’s breathing was going back to normal and he was able to hear the sounds around him again. It was then that he noticed what exactly he was doing.

In the middle of the street, Aoba was holding Noiz against him, his forehead on the bluenette’s shoulder. Aoba had realized that Noiz was starting to have a panic attack, so he did the only thing he could think of. He brought the younger man closer, blocking out his raging thoughts with his scent, which he knew that Noiz had taken a weird liking to.

“Are you all right?” Aoba asked the blonde.

Letting out a breath, Noiz answered with, “I don’t know. I’m dizzy.”

Pushing Noiz’s head back up, Aoba saw the distant and confused look in the younger male’s eyes.

“Where’s your apartment? You should probably get home.”

“Its...” Noiz looked around a bit and his eyes fell on a building just down the road. “It’s right there. On the fourth floor.”

Aoba turned in the direction that Noiz was pointing and let out a small laugh. “Well, that’s convenient isn’t it.”

Noiz didn’t answer. He was still trying to piece together what had just happened to him. In his confusion, he didn’t realize that while the older man was holding him, he had felt his shoulder, and the hand on the back of his head.

Without saying another word, Aoba started to lightly tug Noiz in the direction of his apartment building. Within less than a minute, they had reached the building and were already in the elevator, headed to the fourth floor, where Noiz’s apartment was.

“You don’t have to come with me. I can get home on my own.”

Aoba rolled his eyes. “Yeah, right. Like I could really just leave you here alone. You shouldn’t be going through a panic attack like that alone.”

“I didn’t have a panic attack. I’ve never had one of those.” Noiz wasn’t going to admit it. He couldn’t. Not to him.

“Whatever you say, Mr. Denial. I don’t care how many times you tell me to, I’m not leaving until I’m sure that you’re alright.”

The elevators dinged and Aoba stepped out, tugging Noiz behind him.

“Which apartment?”

“12.”

Pulling out his keys, Noiz took the initiative and led Aoba to his door. Once unlocked, the door swung open to bump against a pile of boxes and papers that were behind it. Stepping aside, Noiz motioned for Aoba to walk in before him so that he could close and lock the door behind them.

Taking a few steps forward, Aoba looked around Noiz’s apartment.

It was small. It was one room, studio apartment with an offshoot bathroom and a kitchen set against the far wall, near the window. Noiz’s bed and computer desk were across the apartment from the kitchen with the desk in the corner.

“It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.” Noiz had come up behind Aoba, startling him slightly, causing him to jump. Seeing this, Noiz muttered, “Sorry.” He stepped around the bluenette and, pulling his coat off, walking towards the kitchen set. “You can sit down anywhere. Make yourself comfortable, since I’m apparently not getting rid of you anytime soon.”

As soon as his back was turned, Aoba stuck his tongue out at the younger male. Looking around again, Aoba noticed the couch that was kind of in the middle of the room, the TV set against the wall opposite it. Sitting down on said couch, Aoba started to unbutton his coat.

As he was still gawking around, Noiz walked over to set down two mugs of what smelled like coffee.

“This is pretty much all I have. I don’t go shopping much.”

Aoba shrugged, bringing the mug close to his face to take in the scent. As he did, he blinked and brought his brows together. “What kind of coffee is this?”

Noiz was standing by his computer with his phone in his hand, apparently pulling a chip out of it. “I dunno. My brother sent it to me while he was back in Germany. So...German coffee? Coffee’s just coffee.”

“I don’t know what kind of person you are to think that Hacienda La Esmeralda* is ‘just coffee’,” Aoba muttered to himself.

Raising an eyebrow at the bluenette, Noiz asked, “How did you know the name of it?”

“I’ve always been obsessed with coffee, so I made sure to try the most expensive coffee around the world. I got a really small sample of this coffee once. Cost me over 36,000 yen, but damn was it good. Never thought I’d be able to have it again.”

Noiz was silent for a minute, and then laughed slightly. “If I would have known that, I would have given you the six bags my brother sent me.”

Aoba blinked and looked at Noiz in shock. “Wait...six...six bags?” he stuttered, “How fricken’ rich is your family!?”

Noiz shrugged. “Dunno. My father is the CEO of a multimillion dollar company if that answers your question.”

Aoba shook his head in disbelief. “And you’re a cop?”

“Don’t want anything to do with my parents, so I thought this would make it easier to stay away from them.”

Noiz’s tone had dropped slightly, and his face had clouded over in what seemed like anger. Whatever happened between Noiz and his parents, Aoba didn’t want to keep bringing it up.

“Well...either way...” the bluenette said, trying to change the subject. “Thanks for the coffee.”

Noiz grunted, walking back over and sitting down on the couch next to Aoba. He didn’t say anything as he suddenly leaned over and laid his head in Aoba’s lap.

Flustered at the sudden contact, Aoba blushed and started to flail a bit. “W-what are you doing!?”

“Laying down. Stop freaking out.”

Aoba stopped his flailing and looked down at Noiz as the blonde closed his eyes and laid on his back, laying a hand on his stomach and the other over his eyes.

He was still really dizzy. He had no idea how he had managed to stand and make coffee. The apartment was very quiet, and although Noiz’s ears were starting to ring, he didn’t want to move. Aoba’s scent was so comforting.. It kind of freaked him out, but he didn’t care.

Noiz’s mind was flitting through thoughts, memories of his childhood and of just recently. It was strange that Aoba didn’t seem angry at him anymore, after what he had called him.

“Are you still pissed at me?” Noiz mumbled, not caring what came out of his mouth.

“For what?” came the answer.

“For what I called you a few days ago.”

Aoba chuckled. Even though Noiz had his eyes closed, for a strange reason, he felt Aoba put a hand on his head, running his fingers through Noiz’s hair. He hadn’t felt anything in so long that he almost moaned at the feeling.

“No, not really. You got mad at what I said and it flew out of your mouth without you meaning to. I kinda overreacted and I’m sorry for that.”

Noiz sighed at the fingers brushing through his hair, Aoba’s nails slightly scraping at his scalp. He should have realized how odd it was that he could _feel_ it, but the thought never crossed his mind. It wasn’t the time for that.

They sat there for a while, Noiz laying in Aoba’s lap as he played with Noiz’s blonde strands.

It was Aoba that broke that silence.

“Noiz?”

“Hmm?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“This again?” Noiz muttered, remembered the same exchange back when they were in the car in front of the Rhyme.

Chuckling, Aoba said, “Don’t worry, its not the same question as before. You already answered that.”

“Then what is it?”

He had no idea what was going through Aoba’s head. The bluenette was silent once again. It felt like he was never going to ask anything. He just continued to run his hand over Noiz’s scalp.

After what seemed like an eternity, Noiz heard Aoba sigh. Removing his arm from his eyes, Noiz looked up at the older man. Aoba looked almost...scared to say anything.

“What’s wrong?” Noiz questioned, pushing himself up to a sitting position.

Letting out a shaky breath, Aoba looked into Noiz’s lime colored eyes.

“I’m scared...”

“About what?”

“Earlier...we had a gun pointed right at us. I was scared. I’ve had quiet a few people point guns at me...its part of the job. It didn’t bother me that I could have been shot. What bothered me was you. _You_ could have gotten shot...you could have gotten hurt. Why was I so worried?”

Noiz blinked. He had no idea what to say. He was just as confused. Why would Aoba worry about him to that extent? Sure, Aoba didn’t hate him as much as he originally thought, but he didn’t seem to be particularly fond on the blonde either.

Aoba’s amber eye began to fill with tears. Why was Aoba crying? What was the point? Noiz didn’t know. The only thing he knew is that he didn’t like it.

Noiz didn’t like it at all.

Noiz suddenly leaned forward, putting a hand on the back of Aoba’s neck. He would probably regret this later, but at that moment, he didn’t care.

Pressing his own lips against Aoba’s oddly very soft ones, Noiz kissed the bluenette. It was a delicate, gentle thing, but Noiz couldn’t think of anything else to do. It didn’t last too long, because he pulled back slightly, looking Aoba in the eye to see if he stopped crying.

And he did. Noiz didn’t see any more tears. But he didn’t have long to ponder anything further, because just as quickly, Aoba grabbed onto the front of Noiz’s t-shirt and practically smashed their lips together.

This kiss was less gentle than the first. It was all desperation and heat. It almost automatically made Noiz’s temperature rise. He put his hand in Aoba’s hair, pushing back until he could feel the hair band that held Aoba’s ponytail in place. He slipped it from the bluenette’s hair, relishing in the feel of the soft, cerulean tresses falling over his hand.

Aoba moaned against Noiz’s lips. This opened an opportunity for Noiz to slide his tongue through Aoba’s parted lips. Their tongue tangled together as Aoba’s hands slid down from where they were holding onto Noiz’s shirt to reach the hem of it, pulling it up slightly to touch Noiz’s sides.

The blonde shuddered at the sudden touch, putting his other hand on the small of Aoba’s back and pressing the smaller man against him. Aoba shifted his body so he could wrap his legs around Noiz’s waist. Noiz took this as a go ahead for him to pick up the bluenette, Aoba’s arms wrapping around his neck as he stepped over to his bed and let the two of them fall on the mattress, their lips never parting. Noiz flicked his tongue against Aoba’s, causing the ball on his tongue to clink against Aoba’s teeth.

Noiz pulled back to look at Aoba. The older man was panting, his eyes half lidded and his face red. His hands were resting on the bed, palms facing the ceiling on either side of his head. Seeing the state that Aoba was in made Noiz’s already half-hard dick a little bit harder. How many times had he seen this exact face in the fantasies he kept telling himself he didn’t have? The answer was too many.

“Noiz?”

Aoba’s breathy voice called Noiz back to the sight in front of him. He was suddenly not so sure about this. This isn’t something that Aoba would normally let him do. What if the older man got angry at him?

“Noiz...please stop,” Aoba breathed. “Stop thinking. If I was going to stop you, I wouldn’t have kissed you.”

That sentence seemed to melt any barriers of doubt that Noiz had in his mind.

The way that Aoba breathed his name sent shivers down his spine. Noiz had never been this effected by something as much as his name before. It scared him.

His eyes had closed against the sight before him, trying to shake the fear from his nerves. But then he felt a soft touch on his cheek, and soft lips against his own. He felt the urge to open his eyes, but instead put his entire being into the kiss that Aoba was giving him.

Noiz felt fingertips against the skin just above the waistband of his jeans. Sliding his tongue back into Aoba’s mouth, he sunk his hands into the soft tresses that spread out around Aoba’s head in a halo. Noiz couldn’t see it, but he could imagine how beautiful the older man looked.

Suddenly, Noiz’s shoulders were grabbed and the two were rolling so that Aoba was straddling his hips. Noiz’s eyes flew open at the sudden change.

“What are you doing?” he mumbled, seeing the feverish heat that had sunk into Aoba’s eyes.

“Are you gonna sit here kissing me for the rest of your life? No that I don’t enjoy it, because I do, but goddamn stop teasing me,” Aoba blurted, pulling at the hem of Noiz’s t-shirt again. The blonde sat up to make it easier.

“What do you want me to do?” Noiz asked, putting his hand on Aoba’s neck and a thumb under his chin, pushing it up so that Noiz could get better access to Aoba’s throat.

Noiz’s breath was hot against Aoba’s skin, and pulled a light moan from Aoba as the blonde dragged his tongue against Aoba’s throat. He rested his other hand on Aoba’s hip, rubbing his thumb into the hollow there, which caused Aoba to twitch slightly.

“What do you want, Aoba?” Noiz asked again, nipping lightly.

Aoba’s breath hitched in his throat as he tried to answer, but Noiz had moved his hand from the older man’s hip to palm at Aoba’s growing erection. Noiz’s own dick was hardening just at the reactions that Aoba was having.

Aoba’s hands were now in Noiz’s hair, head thrown back as Noiz continued to lick and kiss his way down Aoba’s neck. His fingers were now working at Aoba’s belt and the button of his jeans.

However, as soon as Aoba heard the _clink!_ of his belt, he pulled away slightly. His face was bright red and he was still panting, but he was beginning to look unsure. Noiz looked up at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I...I don’t know,” Aoba mumbled, now resting his hands on Noiz’s shoulders. “I just got a...feeling...”

_A feeling, huh?_

Noiz sighed and nudged Aoba off of his lap. The bluenette had a defeated look on his face. The aroused atmosphere that had surrounded them had dissipated, leaving the two of them in soft silence.

“Does this have anything to do with Mizuki?” Noiz asked, just wanting to get it out of the way. He knew it did, but he wanted to have Aoba confirm it before he jumped to conclusions.

Aoba didn’t answer, but he was looking down at his hands as he sat on his feet. He gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod. “Its stupid. I’m stupid. Why does it even matter what Mizuki would think? He has Clear...why do I have to feel like this.”

Aoba’s voice was beginning to grow shaky, as if he could start crying at any moment. Noiz didn’t blame him. He could tell how much affection the older man had for Mizuki. They had been together since they were kids, so it wasn’t that unbelievable.

Noiz gave a small smile. He really did wish that he could have feelings like that for someone. Feelings that strong were something he’d never had. He really didn’t have much, did he?

The blonde raised his hand to lightly tug at a small piece of Aoba’s hair, trying to get his attention. When the bluenette looked up at him with tears in his eyes, Noiz tucked that hair behind his ear, resting his hand on Aoba’s cheek.

Aoba leaned into the hand that was put there and closed his eyes, letting out a shaky breath.

“You know,” Noiz began, looking outside his window to wear the sky was beginning to grow blue. “I don’t think its stupid.” He gave a small chuckle. “But who am I to say anything? I’ve never had that level of affection for someone. Not even my own parents. The only one I’ve even slightly felt anything near love for was my brother, and that was only because he was the only one in my family who didn’t see me as a freak.”

Aoba visibly flinched at the word, which made Noiz believe that someone had called him that before, too. Noiz leaned his head back and let out a long breathe. He dropped his hand from Aoba’s cheek to rest it on his knee. “You should be glad that you can love someone that much. And I’m sure Mizuki loves you. How could he not? You’ve been together for years. Some feelings had to grow between the two of you.” Noiz paused. He wasn’t sure if he should keep going, but it seemed to be calming the older man down. Noiz looked Aoba in the eye and continued, “But who cares? Why would you waste your time on someone who doesn’t hold the same kind of affection as you do? Sure, you want him to be happy, but think of yourself. You’re the only one that you should be worrying about.”

Aoba sniffled, but gave Noiz a small smile. It caused Noiz’s heart to give a loud thump. It was a tear filled smile, but it just made Aoba even more beautiful than he already was.

“Thank you,” Aoba whispered.

Noiz shook his head. “No need for that. Just speaking my mind.” The blonde stood up but leaned down to look Aoba in the eye. He ruffled the bluenette’s hair and kissed him on the forehead, which surprised him as much as it surprised Aoba, who flinched. “You can stay here for a while if you want. If you want to take a nap you can take the bed. I’m gonna take a shower.”

Aoba was about to stand up, but Noiz pushed him back down onto the bed.

“I mean it, Aoba. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Noiz turned without waiting for an answer and walked to his bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him. He left Aoba sitting on the bed with a confused look on his face.

Leaning against the door and sliding down to sit on the floor, Noiz put his head in his hands.

What the fuck was going on? Why had his heart skipped a beat like that?

In reality, though, Noiz knew why.  He had never felt it before, so it was a strange feeling, but he knew what it was.

“Shit...” he mumbled. “I think I’m in love with him...”


	11. Epilogue: Uncertainty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Noiz realizes his own feelings, he finds that Aoba does not feel the same. With that revelation and a new case being thrown into the mix, what will become of this rookie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue to Part 1!!! Stay tuned for the afterward!

After sitting on the bathroom floor, bare back leaning against the door for about ten minutes, Noiz finally stood up. There was no use wallowing in self-hatred. No amount of it would help him. He had told Aoba he was going to take a shower, and that wasn’t a lie.

Noiz stood under the stream of almost boiling hot water. While he was sitting on the floor, he had thought back to what had happened. A panic attack is what Aoba called it. He could understand why it was called what it was called. He had panicked quite a bit, which was odd for him. He had also realized that through the entire thing, through the attack and through his and Aoba’s little...moment, he had felt all of it. Even now, he was able to feel the sting of the hot water.

It was all very strange. It was like the shock of the attack and of the comfort Aoba gave him had rewired his brain in some way that it affected his sense of touch. Noiz had thought that he would never be able to get it back. It had been years since he had been able to feel things. He wasn’t sure he liked it.

The sense was still muted, though. He could feel the heat, and he could feel the hard shower floor beneath his feet. However, his sense of pain was still severely lacking. He tried digging his nails into his forearm only to feel a slight pressure, but no pain.

After what seemed to be around thirty minutes, the water began to lose its heat.

_I guess now’s the time to get out._

Noiz didn’t really want to leave the safety of that bathroom. He didn’t want to have to face Aoba.

Despite not wanting to, Noiz stepped out of the shower and put on the pair of sweatpants he kept in the bathroom for times when he didn’t want to bring actual clothes in. Grabbing one of the many green towels he had, he rested it over one shoulder, grabbing some to rub the water out of his hair.

Stepping towards the door, he drew in a breath. What kind of expression would his partner have? Would he be able to look him in the eye after that episode? There was no way to tell but to actually open the door.

Putting a hand on the handle of the door, the metal now lukewarm from the steam left over from his shower, Noiz twisted his hand.

When he opened the door and stepped out, he was shocked to find that Aoba wasn’t there.

Looking around the apartment, Noiz felt like the space suddenly seemed very empty. He had never had an issue with being alone in this place, but now that Aoba was gone, he felt very...alone.

With a quick shake of his head, the blonde walked over to where he both his and Aoba’s cups of coffee still sat, virtually untouched. It wasn’t until had sat down on his couch that he noticed the piece of paper that was folded in half and held down with Aoba’s cup.

Moving the coffee out of the way, Noiz picked up the paper. It looked like it was from the pad of paper that he kept next to his bed, which was probably where Aoba got it from.

Unfolding it, Noiz sighed, reading the words that were lying there.

 

_Noiz,_

_Thanks for listening. And I’m sorry. Forget what happened today. From now on, we will only be partners. Nothing more, I promise. So don’t worry about what happened and just...stay as you are._

_-Aoba_

 

“...Fuck.”

Noiz sat in his empty apartment, forearms resting on his thighs as he bowed his head, Aoba’s note still in hand.

Could he really go back to being just partners with Aoba? Could he, after what he had realized?

He had no idea.

 

 

“Mornin’, Noiz.”

The blonde turned at the greeting. He sitting at his desk at the precinct. He had spent the entirety of the day before sitting at his computer, drinking and staring at that damned note. It wasn’t until Modoki had showed up that he managed to put the paper down.

But today he was back at work. He was supposed to be meeting Aoba there before they headed off to Platinum Jail. Originally, he had just wanted to head straight to the bar, but Aoba had insisted that he go to the precinct, where Aoba could give him a ride. Noiz really didn’t want to.

However, now the bluenette was standing right next to him, his annoyingly intoxicating Ocean Breeze scent coming off of him in waves.

Even though Aoba had greeted him, Noiz only grunted. If he had been looking at Aoba’s face, he would have seen the slight grimace that followed that grunt, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

“You ready to go? Apparently, Koujaku needs to talk to us about something as soon as we get there.”

Noiz nodded slightly. The less he interacted, the less he had to worry about going against what Aoba wanted.

 

 

When they arrived at Platinum Jail, it was a little after 8 in the morning. Even though it was still fairly early, there seemed to be a lot of people around.

However, the longer they looked, they realized that every person there were people who worked there. Standing towards the back were Beni, and a tall, pink-haired man.

Walking up to them, Aoba tapped Beni on the shoulder. The fiery red-head, turned around like he was about to hit something.

“Oh, Aoba, newbie, sorry. Thought you were someone else,” the kid said, lowering his fist. “Didn’t mean to turn on ya.”

Aoba held up his hands and shook his head. “Nah, don’t worry about it,” the bluenette answered, glancing up at the pink-haired man. He seemed as if he was about to say something to the taller man, but instead, Aoba asked, “What’s going on? Why is everyone outside?”

Beni crossed his arms and let out a groan-like growl. “Someone trashed the place again.”

“Again? That’s what, the fifth time now?”

The red-head nodded. “Yep, but this is the second time this week, so Koujaku’s friggin’ pissed.”

As if to emphasize this, there was a crash and a yell from inside the bar.

“I don’t fucking care! This is the fifth time! I’m getting fucking sick of it! How in the hell does this keep happening!? And don’t you dare say shit about security! I have the best security system that money can buy, and it’s still happening!”

“Oh, jeez,” Aoba muttered. He hadn’t seen Koujaku this angry before. Sure, the kimono-clad bar owner could get a bit angry, but this wasn’t normal.

“We should probably get in there,” Noiz muttered back. Aoba looked up at him as he said this. His arms were crossed and he seemed fairly relaxed, but his eyes were cold at they rested on the partially opened door of the bar. “If this has happened this much, we might have a case on our hands.”

Aoba nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

Together, the partners pushed through the crowd until they reached the door to the bar. Before they could walk in, however, someone put a hand on Aoba’s shoulder.

“You should wait until he’s calmed down a bit.” The voice was a low baritone, almost like Mink’s. Aoba turned and realized that it was the pink-haired man. Aoba vaguely remembered from what Sei had told him that this man’s name was Tori.

“We probably should, but we can’t,” Aoba answered, shaking his head.

Noiz thought that the taller man was going to say something to that, but instead, he released Aoba’s shoulder and nodded. “Do as you wish.”

They didn’t wait for another word before the two were already making their way into the bar. They weren’t prepared for what they saw.

Not only were the tables strewn about as if they had been thrown, there were three windows broken, the bar was destroyed, and there were no glasses or bottles on the shelf. There was broken class all over the floor, along with deep gouges in the walls. In the center of all the chaos was Koujaku, sword drawn with a phone pressed to his ear. His entire body was still, mimicking calm. However, Noiz noticed the knuckles of the hand that gripped the sword were pure white.

“Then get someone the fuck over here so we can assess the damage. I’m gonna have to close for a few days after this.”

His voice sounded beyond anger; it was tinged with pain. It was then that they noticed that the hand that was holding the phone was torn apart, as if he had punched someone or something too many times.

Seconds later, the phone was disconnected and pushed into Koujaku’s back jeans pocket. When he turned around, anger still written across his face, his eyes fell on Aoba and Noiz.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” Koujaku questioned, sword still in hand. It didn’t look like he was going to let go of it anytime soon. “I told everyone to stay out.”

Noiz rolled his eyes and Aoba scoffed. “Right, like we would really just sit back and do nothing about this,” Aoba answered. He had crossed his arms and was picking his way through the broken class and overturned tables towards the bar owner. “Beni told me that this has been happening more frequently. Have any idea why?”

Koujaku let out a low growl similar to the one Beni had done earlier.

“If I knew why, it wouldn’t have been happening this much. I don’t fucking know.”

Aoba nodded. Noiz stayed back towards the door where he could keep an eye out for anyone trying to get in. He had closed and locked the door as soon as they walked in.

“Well, that doesn’t help any,” Aoba said, pushing a hand through his hair. He hadn’t put it up in a ponytail yet. “Out of everyone here, I thought you would be the most likely person to know what’s going on.”

Koujaku only grunted.

Looking around at the mayhem, Noiz began to ponder the situation. If this had been happening sporadically for the past couple months, it probably didn’t have much to do with their undercover work. Noiz had only been there for a few days, and Aoba only a week or two before him. This meant that it was most likely something to do with the bar, or with Koujaku himself.

The kimono-clad man and the bluenette stood there conversing among themselves for a while about that damages and the cost to fix them. As they were doing this, Noiz began to pace around the large room, looking for anything that seemed out of the oridinary.

On his third rotation, his shoe clipped something that clattered, causing it to resound through the room.

“What was that?” Aoba called, having been startled by the sudden clanging sound.

“Dunno. Looking for it now,” Noiz called back. It being still early morning, without any of the interior lights on, it was hard to see anything in the corners of the room. Frustration at the lack of light, Noiz cursed quietly. Searching blind like this would never work.

Noiz pulled his phone from his back pocket. He hadn’t put the bunny case back on that Theo had gotten him, thus making it easier to remove than it would have been.

Still running his hand over the floor for the thing that clanged, he swiped over the screen until he managed to turn on his flashlight app. Shining it on the floor in front of him, Noiz was finally able to actually see the floor. He couldn’t find the origin of the sound.

It wasn’t until maybe a minute or two later that he turned to look underneath the broken table next to him, two of its legs smashed to bits, so that the table was at a slant.

The first thing he saw was something that look like a chain.

_Could that have been what I kicked?_

Upon closer inspection, Noiz realized that it was connected to something. It was clipped to what looked like shackles that were around what looked like small, sleeve covered wrists...

_Shackles? In this day and age?_

But that wasn’t the only thing he saw. Moving his phone to look at eye level, the first thing he noticed were the eyes. In the next moment, he was knocked over.

“Fuck!”

Falling backwards, Noiz managed to put a hand behind him, propping himself up before he fell flat on his back.

“Noiz!? What happened?”

The blonde heard footsteps coming towards him.

“What the hell?” That was Koujaku’s voice.

Noiz’s chest felt heavy, like something was clinging to him. Looking down, the only thing Noiz could see was a mouse’s face. But looking closer, he realized that it was just the hood of a sweater.

“What’s a kid doing here?” Aoba’s voice this time.

Looking up at the other two, Noiz blinked. “A kid?”

“Yeah. Like...little kid,” Aoba added.

The kid in question was clinging to Noiz. His small hands were gripping the front of Noiz’s jacket through the kid’s extremely long sleeves. And around the kid’s sleeve-covered wrists were indeed shackles.

“What the hell is going on?” Aoba whispered, looking at the entire scene.

“Kid? Are you okay?” Noiz questioned, unsure of what to do exactly.

“…-them.”

The kid spoke so quietly that Noiz couldn’t make out the sentence. “I can’t hear you.”

“You have to help them!” the kid all but screeched.

Blinking, Aoba asked, “Help who? Who is it that’s in trouble.”

“HE has them!” the kid once again screeched. It was muffled by Noiz’s coat, but still loud.

“WHO has who!?” Koujaku yelled back.

Suddenly, the kid’s head whipped up and Noiz was greeted by wide, angry eyes that held only a small twinge of fear.

“The King has my brother and sister! And he’s going to kill them because of what we did!”

Out of nowhere, the kid’s eyes suddenly glazed over and he slumped against Noiz’s chest, seemingly unconcious.

“What in the hell is going on here?” Noiz muttered, looking up in confusion at his partner and Koujaku.

Aoba shook his head slowly.

“I don’t know, but whatever it is, it can’t be good.”


End file.
